


The Third Eye of Shiva

by waterwriter144



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, drunk lesbians, going on another adventure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-06-20 17:36:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 29,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15539466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterwriter144/pseuds/waterwriter144
Summary: After one bottle of whiskey, a drunk night of confession, and one Tusk cashed in, Chloe has one more adventure she must do in India. Finding the Third Eye of Shiva.





	1. A Bottle of Whiskey

**Author's Note:**

> I did way too much research on this damn fanfic. Just for the sake of a gay fanfic. Hope you're happy. Enjoy.

 

“So how does it feel, being heroes and everything?” Sam boasted as he swung around with an Indian beer in hand. He brightly smiled at his two lady companions who were not sharing his muse.

“Gahhh….hero. I don’t think that works for me.” Chloe groaned as she downed her shot of whiskey. The nice burn going down her throat eased her nauseous stomach just thinking about being paired with that word. “I am many things, a thief, treasure hunter…”

“A dickhead.” Nadine chimed in. She sat beside Chloe at their tiny little table at a local Indian bar. After limping their way back into the city, the first thing they did was hit up a pizza joint, enjoyed a couple of slices with Meenu, and headed for the closest bar once it got dark. The bar was lively with many drunk idiots, and now there were three new idiots to join in, badly bruised and all. Nadine poured herself another serving of whiskey from the bottle they purchased.

Chloe abruptly took the bottle from her new partner’s hand, “Yes, and this dickhead needs more whiskey. I am nursing a wicked injury at the moment.” She downed another shot and made a face from the burn.

“You really should go to the hospital.” Nadine glared at her.

Sam sided with Nadine on this one, for once they were on the same terms. “Yeah, we were lucky to get away with a couple of scrapes and bruises. You look real hurt Chloe.” Sam ushered out a hand which Chloe waved away.

“That’s rude guys, I fall down a waterduct, crash land a moving car into a moving train, fell out of a falling helicopter and escaped a runaway train with a bomb and a maniac on board. I think I look great all things considered.” Chloe leaned back in her chair and sighed with relief. But the uneven ground gave way to the two back ends of her chair and down she went. She landed with a hard thud on her bad side. Right, she almost forgot her cracked ribs from when she fell flat on her back, after tumbling out of the waterduct. The time when she was out cold for 30 minutes with a very concerned Nadine hovering over her. Chloe groaned. “This doesn’t count either.”

Nadine sighed and got up, “I’ll take her back to the hotel. Patch her up as best I can.”

“Be sure to give her some wicked pain meds. Morning Chloe needs to be present at her little Ministry thing tomorrow.” Sam rolled his eyes as he lit up a cigarette. “And I’m still looking to collect my portion of this ‘finder’s fee’.”

Nadine crotched down and lifted Chloe up into a fireman’s carry. Chloe groaned in protest, “Bad side, Bad Side!” Nadine’s broad shoulders were digging right into her broken ribs.

“Would you prefer I carry you bridal style?” Nadine joked.

“I got us a honeymoon suite. Pretty sure there’s a bottle of champagne in our room.” Chloe squirmed with a giggle. She was amazed that Nadine was learning how to retort to her witty flirtatious one liners.

Sam gave them a sleepy salute, “Have a goodnight ladies, happy honeymooning.” He giggled. Nadine couldn’t help but giggle back. They were an odd couple. A couple of idiots who just went through death defying odds.

Nadine was sporting a nice buzz from the drinking, but it didn’t falter her balance or her strength. Carrying Chloe hardly felt like a challenge. Chloe on the other hand, she watched the woman put way more shots than her. Nadine wondered what kind of drunk Chloe would be. One thing she was picking up was…..

“Hey you’re pretty strong, you should come work for me. A woman like you would be nice to have in my apartment.”

A drunk flirt. Chloe normally would surprise her with a flirty half-hearted remark once in awhile, but now it was every word out of her damn mouth. Nadine would be blushing if it weren’t so damn funny.

“You’re drunk.”

“Hello Captain Obvious.”

“You shouldn’t be drinking so much, not with your injuries.”

“Well Dr. Ross I’m drinking because of my injuries. I feel almost no pain.”

Nadine rolled her eyes and shifted Chloe on her shoulders resulting in the smartass yelping in pain. Upon entering their hotel room on the second floor, Nadine took up the role of being a nurse for her injured drunk partner. She placed Chloe at the foot of the single queen sized bed.

“I didn’t realize we were moving things along this fast. I mean you did buy me a drink, but where’s the foreplay?”  Chloe melted into the comforter. Finally something softer than mud, grass and stone.

The mercenary fiddled in their luggage for their emergency first aid kit. “Take off your shirt.”

“Oh now we are getting somewhere.” Chloe went to lift up her shirt but was met with immense pain shooting up her side. She hissed. Nadine returned to her side and helped her ease the wet fabric off. It clung to her skin from her sweat, blood, mud, and other various jungle funk they ran into.

Nadine went from mid-amused to heavy concern upon seeing the damage her body had taken. Chloe’s right side was in cased in purple. The mark went from the rib just below her bra to her last rib. “Frazer, you need to go to a hospital. What if these are fractures? They could puncture your lungs!”

“Wow, didn’t think you cared so much Ross.”

“I’m being serious!”

“Ok ok, I’ve had broken ribs before. Trust me I would be in a lot more pain. This little bruise will heal in a few weeks. I just need rest, a bottle of pain meds and alots of whiskey.”

Nadine wasn’t swayed, she stared intently into her eyes. She watched Chloe fall from terrifying heights, take on a psychopath that was 5 times her strength, and threw herself into danger numerous times. “Look at me.” She got real close and cupped Chloe’s chin, waving a finger in her face. Chloe’s hazy eyes didn’t follow her finger. She was staring right back at her. “You’re suppose to follow my finger.”

“You told me to look at you, and I am.” Chloe said in her low husky voice. This tone she was using was different from all the other flirty tones, this one felt more genuine. More direct. “I don’t think I have ever said this to you, and I usually don’t say this often. But you’ve held my back repeatedly out there. More than anyone has ever done for me.” She grabbed Nadine’s hand from her chin and held it in her own. “Thank you.”

Nadine was lost. This was a genuine compliment. It felt like a warm compliment, and with Chloe’s husky voice it felt like a very velvety personal statement. Those words made Nadine’s chest ache. But was this Chloe talking or the booze?

Chloe hoisted herself out of bed with a groan and stumbled her way to the bathroom.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Shower. Guard the Tusk.” She abruptly stated and closed the door. There was the sound of shuffling followed by the sound of Chloe throwing up. Nadine shook her head. She didn’t think her first adventure with her new partner would be this involved. It was going to be a long night.

Nadine cautiously opened the bathroom door which drunk Chloe didn’t lock. The poor girl was kneeled in front of the toilet, huddled over the bowl groaning. Nadine sat down on the titled floor beside her.

“Want me to hold your hair back?”

“No, Christ I haven’t done this since I was a teenager. Bad whiskey.” She heaved and then hollered in pain. “Oh and what makes this worst is that it hurts the ribs.”

“You should have eaten more pizza with your little marketplace friend.”

“How could I, Sam was hogging all the slices.” Her miserable voice echoed in the bowl.

Nadine giggled, “Well you sobered me up.”

“Go back and get the bottle, its not too late. I wanna see ‘Don’t-Cross-Ross’ drunk.”

“Maybe another time.”

Chloe lifted her head up, “Alright I think its over. God, well I think you’ve seen me at a new low now.”

“I’ll chalk it up on the board. Need a hand to get you in the shower?”

“Oh darling I’d have your hands all over me in the shower.” Drunk Chloe was still being flirty drunk Chloe.

Nadine was going to be hearing this all night. She had two options are this point, remain being Chloe flirty pin cushion until she passed out or beat her at her own game. Nadine wasn’t sure if she was up for a challenge of going up against the flirt master that was Chloe. And a drunk fueled Chloe was just going to be an endless torment all night. She was going to make the act of going to bed slow and painful. Hell just the process of getting her to take a shower was taking a long time.

“Eish,” She muttered under her breath. She hopped back on to her feet and crossed into the bedroom.

Chloe pouted after her, “Was it something I said, oh cmon on darling.”

Nadine returned back with the bottle of whiskey they had been nipping on all night. Chloe made a reach for it, Nadine pulled it away and took a swig. “If I’m gonna have to tolerate you like this all night, I’m gonna need some pain meds of my own. You on the other hand are a mess right now.” She stared down at her.

“A hot mess.”

“Shut up, I’m gonna get your ass in that shower if I have to drag you in there myself.” Nadine barked.

“Oh the ‘Don’t Cross Ross’ has come out.” Chloe wobbled her way up to her feet. “Honestly darling you’re going to an extreme length to see my ass.”

“I’ve been watching that ass being shot at for the past few days. Its not that impressive.” She narrowed her eyes. If Chloe was gonna play this game, Nadine was going to drill her hard until she was in that shower.

Chloe let out a genuine shock, she immediately went to work on taking off her pants. Fiddling with her belt and then painfully removing each leg. She then turned around and presented her ass before the mercenary. “Are you sure you’re talking about this ass?”

Nadine couldn’t help but stare, Chloe’s ass in truth was probably the most amazing ass she’s ever seen on a woman. Her small stature highlighted her perfectly sculpted large ass made her easy on the eyes. “Great, now the underwear.” She took another swig. She couldn’t figure out why but this kind of game was making her cheeks burn and her chest thud.  It was exciting.

For the first time since they started the evening, Chloe actually backpedaled. She was rather shocked by how forward Nadine was being. She was staring at her with eyes that looked hungry. Was she flirting back or was it the alcohol talking? Chloe found it awkward to be on the receiving end of this game of gay chicken. She started it only because she believed Nadine wouldn’t fight back or at least laugh about it. But she was getting into it just as much as she was. “Oh so that’s how it is?” With her back facing Nadine, she unhooked her bra and threw the thing aside. Next she bent over and slowly removed her panties. Surely Nadine would back away now. She peaked over to see that Nadine unmoving. She hung herself in the doorway staring at her with the same eyes. Almost judging her.

“Now get that ass in the shower.” She commanded.

“Are you gonna watch me the whole time? I normally take very looooong showers.” Chloe felt severely aroused right now, being naked in front of another woman.

The sound of heavy boots approaching behind her startled her. Nadine’s firm hands gripped her shoulders, she began pushing her into the shower with her entire strength. Chloe may be drunk, but she wasn’t about to get bested by this woman’s strength. As she was forced towards the shower, she turned in Nadine’s grip and grabbed hold of her shirt, tripping the woman up and yanking them both into the shower. Chloe reached for the hot water nozzle and turned it on. As the two slammed into the shower wall, they were greeted with a hot stream of water. The hot water didn’t compare in heat to the inferno Nadine was feeling in her cheeks and chest right now. She had Chloe fully naked and pinned to a wall.

“You wanna play games China? Be careful with whom you are playing with.” Chloe teased in her husky voice. “Now as long as you’re here, why don’t you be a dear and put those thick fingers of yours to work.”

Nadine lost. She jumped back like she had spotted a viper and bolted for the bedroom. Slamming the bathroom door behind her. Chloe laughed to herself, she underestimated Nadine’s breaking point. She almost felt ashamed that they couldn’t go further, she was carving for some sex. Coming off from adrenaline highs normally put her in this kind of mood, where she would fuck any man or woman who gave her the look. But she tested something tonight, Nadine was her new partner. A partner that she shouldn’t screw with this time. Once the laughs were over, Chloe sighed. After all they’ve been through, playing around with Nadine was worst decision. Just another one of her old habits. Screwing with people. Nadine trusted her, and she trusted her with her past with her father. She saw her at her most vulnerable and Nadine also made herself vulnerable to her. And yet Chloe still mucked it up. Chloe punched the titled wall, stupid drunk Chloe. The hot water was beginning to sober her up as well as the pit in her empty stomach. She continued the rest of her shower in agonizing silence.

 

By the time she had finished cleaning off all the dried mud, blood, and jungle pollen out, the hotel room was dark. The only illumination was the bathroom light. She must have scared Nadine off, great job Chloe. She really mucked it up this time. Chloe tightened the knot of the towel around her torso and walked towards the balcony. She slid the glass door open and breathed in the night air. She leaned against the banister and let out a heavy sigh. She raked her fingers through her damp black hair.

A pair of hands grabbed hold of her waist and Chloe let out a gasp. She turned around to find Nadine. Her face was contorted in an intense stare, the smell of whiskey on her breath. She was dripping, her entire body was covered in cold water. Like she just went swimming, with all of her clothes on. She was panting heavily.

“Frazer.” She waved a finger in her face, “Let’s get one thing clear.” Her words were a tad slurred, she was definitely drinking while she was in the shower. And then took a cold dip. “You and I are partners. I trust you with my life. And I hope you damn well trust me with yours. But I still got shit to sort out and you are an impossible woman sometimes.” Ah so she’s a heartfelt drunk. “And I like you Frazer. I really do but you can be so stupid and irritating. You can play games all you want with me, but one thing you have to live with it that you are stuck with me as a partner and I’m counting on you.  So don’t play with me. If you got something to say to me just say it! Because I’d rather not solve it myself with your stupid games.”

That was a lot to unpackage.

Chloe felt cornered, there were no gay chicken games to play now. Nadine stomped out that game entirely. No more of the half-hearted flirting. No more lying. What they did together, putting up with each other’s bullshit, getting personal like that, it formed something. And Chloe was trying to go back to old Chloe, with just one stupid drink she was gonna fuck the whole thing up again. Old Chloe would have kissed and ran. Old Chloe only did what Chloe wanted. But the old Chloe stayed in Western Ghats and out came someone new. This woman got to know her so quickly, dug so deep into her that there was no way Chloe could just play around with that.

Acting solely on her impulses as this new more committed Chloe, she cupped Nadine’s face and pulled her lips down onto her own. Nadine froze. This was certainly not an answer she was expecting. The time she had to herself, the long minutes of rehearsing of what she wanted to say to Chloe while she showered, led to this moment. And out of all the lines she thought Chloe would answer her with, she was unprepared for this one.

As Chloe pulled away, Nadine shook her head. Was this just another game?

“I like you too Nadine. I trust you. I’m sorry ok. I’m just not good….at….the whole people thing. Expressing myself is not one of my best features. But what we did out there, no one has ever seen that before. And you didn’t run from me or pity me, you stayed. And I shouldn’t take that for granted. If you wanna punch me in the face again you are welcome to. Remind me many times over of how stupid I am to take you for granted. And remind me that I need you. Go on hit me!”

Nadine raised her hand and did as she was told. She slapped Chloe across the face. It was a light slap, but enough to turn the girl’s face.

“You’re a selfish dickhead.” Nadine whispered.

Chloe lowered her head, “I am.”

From the corner of her vision, she sees Nadine raise her hand again, she flinches. But the hand lands gently under her chin and she’s pulled forward into a kiss.

“It’s good to hear you say that.” Nadine whispered. “And that will be the last time I raise a hand against you. I trust that you will not play games with me. Chloe, I am not good with these kinds of things. As a mercenary, I’ve never had a shot at romance. But we both caught each other during our low moments, and we emerged victorious. In my line of work, that’s a partner you keep. You keep them for a good long while. So I hope you are prepared for the responsibilities of taking me on as your partner. As your friend. And perhaps something more.”

Chloe felt her eyes burn with tears, her arms slowly found its way around Nadine’s waist. A smile crossed her lips, “I won’t make a mess of it.” She touched her forehead with her own. “I promise.”

 


	2. The Maratha Empire

 

Nadine stirred as the city life echoed into their hotel room from the open balcony door. The next thing to greet her was pain. Her whole body ached, but it was mainly her head suffering from a mild hangover. She definitely drank too much to evoke those emotions out of her last night. Last night.

Nadine sat up and whirred around to find the hotel room empty. The satchel that housed the Tusk was also gone. SHIT.

There was a folded note on her nightstand, in Chloe’s hand writing.

                ‘ Went out to the Ministry, be back soon with your share. Sleep in, you earned it China. Be back soon. 

Love, a selfish dickhead.’

Nadine smiled, last night really happened. A night of drunken flirting and emotion exchanges. Nadine had never felt more relaxed. It felt good to get all of that out. The only thing that would have made that night more perfect is fucking Chloe back for how much she had fucked with her with the mind games. But they were both too drunk and exhausted, after a couple of sleepy drunk kisses they cuddled up in bed and passed out. Nadine fiddled with the note in her hand and combed a hand through her hair. To her surprise it was wet. ‘When did I take a shower last night?’ She was puzzled.

 

* * *

  

Chloe tapped her fingers against the main office desk impatiently. She saw several people pop out from their offices and cubicles to stare at her. Honestly is it so hard to believe that someone just found the Tusk of Ganesha and would hand it over to the Ministry of Culture? Finally after nearly 30 minutes of waiting for someone to approach her again, an older gentleman with thick glasses shuffled over to her. “You are Chloe Frazer yes?”

“Good to see someone remembered I was here. Let’s talk shop.”

The gentleman cleared his throat, “I apologize. I am just so surprised. You are not all like your father.”

Chloe’s face lightened up and then winced, “I suppose not.”

“And to think that you have accomplished what he has worked on for decades. I think he would have been most pleased.”

“Well I didn’t do it for him, I did it for me. And to restore what was lost to the people. I saved it from being part of an arms deal. You’re welcome. Long story short, I can give you the proper locations of the grand cities of Halebidu and Belhur. All of which are pretty well preserved and ready to be explored. Save for a couple of bullet holes.”

“And the Tusk?”  
Chloe retrieved the jeweled horn from her bag and gingerly handed it to the old man. His face trembled and his eyes widened. With shaky hands, he retrieved a cloth for the tusk to be wrapped in. “My god.” He mumbled.

“Welp, if you need to time to identity its verity, I would much prefer if we discuss….oh maybe…..a finder’s fee. For both the Tusk and the locations of these ancient cities.” Chloe smiled widely.

Negotiations went on for all of a few minutes. The Ministry was more than blown away by Chloe’s dump of info, she blew their tops off. The old man settled on a highly generous compensation of 3 million rupees, along with a gift from the Ministry. 3 million was generous enough. She figured that would divide nicely between the 3 of them.

As the Ministry was collecting her money and whatever “gift” it was, Chloe wandered their museum front. Her pained ribs unfortunately made her collapse on a nearby bench overlooking a statue of Shiva made in the 17th century. Perhaps more pain killers were in order, or maybe take Nadine’s advice and visit a hospital. She was lucky that the hangover this morning was manageable. The ribs were the worst part, and her whole body being engulfed in aches. The last few days were starting to catch up. All the punches, cliff diving, scaling and falling she took were all hitting her this morning. A hangover would have felt like a sliver compared to it.

“Ms. Frazer.” Ah the old man returns.

Two assistances were with him carrying a briefcase and a lock box. The two assistances didn’t look as friendly as the old man. One of them had a nasty scar over his lip that cut through his mustache.

The old man extended a friendly handshake, “I can’t thank you enough Ms. Frazer for all your hard work. I have already called up an expedition out to your locations. Everyone is most pleased. Your money as requested, but even this is not enough to measure our gratitude to you. The Tusk is……” He took a deep breath and wiped his face with a handkerchief, “It will be the highlight of our museum. As for a parting gift, this I think you will find most special. Your father left behind a few notes. Many were of his research into finding the Tusk, but he had many expeditions planned out. We thought the Ministry would entrust his research to you, his daughter.”

Chloe fell silent. She was expecting mentions of her father, but not this. It was too much. “Im sorry, thank you. But I don’t think I could accept that. My father……spent so much time into those studies……I’m just happy I found the one he was aching to find.”

The old man raised an eyebrow, “Very well. But as an archeologist and a bit of treasure hunter myself, I implore you to at least look at his findings of his second greatest expedition.” He tapped the box.

The briefcase and the box were placed at her feet and the Ministry returned back to their office. Chloe stared down at the box. After muttering a ‘fuck it’, she sat at her lone bench with the box and opened it. There were a couple of pieces of paper at the bottom, but the item sitting on top perked her curiosity. She took it out to bring into the sunlight. It was a small cyclical item, no bigger than a tea saucer. It was littered with Hindu imagery, mostly of the God Shiva and the Kama, the God of Love. The most notable element of the cylinder was the top, it had an eye on it. Chloe studied it for a close bit and then looked at the papers. The old man must have only handed her the material on her father’s second expedition. Like he planned for her to figure out this mysterious cylinder. Chloe sighed heavily as she examined the handwritten scribbles of her father. Messy, that was her father’s handwriting alright.

“You’ve got to be joking.” Chloe mutter when she noticed a reoccurring phrase. The Third Eye of Shiva. Chloe flipped through all of the pages. Several stories about a reoccurring object only described as a red large orb that was carried in the hands of many kings from dozens of dynasties. One of the last stories was heavily circled, it had only a date and the words Maratha Empire. What on earth could that mean?

Chloe perked her head up at the Shiva statue in front of her. His eyes were closed except for his Third Eye, it was open to looking outward. Her father and the Ministry were sending clear signs, they wanted her to find the Third Eye. This red orb. Perhaps it was a jewel, a big jewel that she was sure the Ministry would be more than happy of handing over another generous finder’s fee for.

Quick on her feet, she dashed around the museum and went to the archives, looking up info on the Maratha Empire.

 

* * *

 

“Well the sleeping beauties are awake finally.” Sam ushered over Nadine. He was in the hotel’s lobby munching on a breakfast dish. “Did you know they serve breakfast here? Grab a bit while its still hot.”

Nadine plopped in the seat adjacent to him.

“Where’s Chloe? Where’s the Tusk?”

Nadine waved for a waitress to bring her some coffee, “She is already at the Ministry dropping off the Tusk right now.”

“Shit, look I love Chloe and everything but how do we know she’s not gonna walk away with the Ministry’s finder’s fee?”

Nadine looked behind Sam and gave a smile.

“Oh please Sam you know that’s not how I operate.” Chloe spooked up behind Sam. “I put you through hell, I put both of you through hell. Least I could do is let you guys sleep in.” Chloe sat down beside Nadine and gave her a warm smile, “Good to see you up darling. Sleep well?”

“As best I could, all things considered.”

“I didn’t hear any complaints when you started spooning me.”

Nadine flushed.

Sam stared at the girls, “I don’t get this, what is going on between you two?”

Chloe smirked, “Nadine is my new partner, sorry Sam you were great and all but I’ve moved on.”

“I’m hurt.” Sam playfully held his heart as if it was bursting through his chest.

The waitress returned with two cups of coffee for Nadine and Chloe. As the waitress left, Chloe noticed there were several janitors by the lobby’s large fountain. They were arguing as they were trying to mop and collect some broken pieces of the fountain.

“What’s all that then?” Chloe eyed over the rim of her cup.

Sam waved it off with his fork, “Ah apparently some drunk idiot came in and thought they would take a nice swim last night. We must have missed last night.”

Nadine choked on her coffee, she did vaguely remember needing to cool her head after storming out of Chloe’s hot shower last night. Chloe giggled silently and figured she would save the poor girl by changing the subject. She grabbed for the box and slammed it down on the table. “Well if you guys are interested, I have a new treasure for us to find, here in India.”

Sam threw up his hands, “Nope Nope I’m out, I’m through with India. I’m taking my share and hopping on a plane back to the states.”

Chloe pouted, “Oh you don’t wanna join us, I think Nadine was starting to like you.”

Nadine scoffed, “Very unlikely.”

Sam rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah well after having my life flash before my eyes when we nearly drowned in that temple after a solid week of torture by a Kingly sociopath, I think I might need a bit of a break. Plus I got a text from brother this morning.” He stared down at his hands and cleared his throat, “He said I’m gonna be an Uncle.” He let out a bewildered chuckle.

Nadine raised an eyebrow, “Really?”

Chloe winced in disgust, “Ew.”

Nadine giggled, “Well I guess a congratulations are in order. Maybe you might lead by your brother’s example and settle down and stay down.”

Chloe shuttered, “Gah kids. Since when did Nate want kids? I’d glad its with Sunshine and not me. Guess I dodged a bullet there.” She laughed.

Sam lit up a cigarette, “So you two can go on your little whatever adventure, while I go stare at black and white photos of a blob that is soon to be my niece or nephew. And I’m gonna tell Nate about how the Chloe Frazer is the new hero of India.”

Chloe groaned, “Oh god, stop! He’s never gonna believe you.”

With parting words and handing over 1 million rupees, Sam departed to head back to the US. Leaving the two girls in a bashful silence.

Nadine finally broke the silence, “Do you think he knows?”

“About what dear?” Chloe sipped her coffee.

“About us.”

“That would depend on which version of us you are referring to.” Chloe said in her husky voice and batted her eyes at Nadine.

Nadine shook her head, “Whatever, he’s gone now and I would be happy to never mention another Drake at all for our next adventure. So what’s this new treasure hunt, partner?” She winked at her.

“Well as your mentor into the field of treasure hunting, I must teach my new pupil the ways of what it means to be a fearless thief.”

“Right, so me saving your ass multiple times back then was just….”

“Oh please, you’re good. But there’s more to being a treasure hunter than saving asses.”

“Well your ass is an ass worth saving.”

“So you do like my ass.” Chloe said with a coy smile.

“Shut up, what’s the lead?” Nadine bashfully waved her away.

“You and I my dear are going up north to a region just outside of Mumbai.”

 

* * *

 

 

The girls set out on the road in their brand new 4x4 that they rented out. Chloe of course was driving while Nadine navigated with the GPS and looking up some facts on Wikipedia.

“So the Third Eye of Shiva,” Nadine shouted over the wind as they zoomed down the highway towards Mumbai. “I thought the Third Eye was like a chakra, a metaphor to gain wisdom.”

“You would be kind of right. The Third Eye or the Anja is a chakra that will help one gain higher consciousness, precognition, and out of body experiences. But the item we are seeking is Shiva’s Third Eye, which according to my father’s research was a large orb that ‘shoots fire’.”

“What?”

“According to legends, Shiva at one point only had 2 eyes. When Shiva went to go mediate on top of Mt. Kaliash and closed his eyes, the world of man fell into complete darkness. Demons took over and well it was a rough time. Many gods tried to wake Shiva from his mediation. That was until Kama, the God of Love, struck Shiva with an arrow to the forehead. Which in turn, opened up Shiva’s Third Eye. However upon opening it and waking Shiva, fire shot out from the eye and incinerated Kama.”

“That I did know, with Shiva being the God of Destruction. So his Third Eye when opened will grant you either wisdom or death.”

“Many see it as a sign that in order to achieve opening your Anja, you must reject desire in order to obtain bliss. If you are still attached to your desires, your ass is fried.”  
“That’s a bit fucked up.”

“You don’t see me rejecting any desires any time soon.” The girls laughed. Chloe shot Nadine a foxy glance through her shades. “Besides gaining high consciousness is over rated. I’d rather be surrounded by money, wine and sex. Lots of sex.”

Nadine bit her lip, “Shiva would be displeased with you. So what are our leads? The orb was last seen in the Martha Empire?”

“Maratha Empire. Between 1647-1818, the Marathis were a warrior driven empire that strongly believed in Hindu, at the time they were constantly battling the Mughal Empire, whom were Muslims from the North. By my father’s notes, it seems that orb was present around the inception of the Empire.”

Nadine reached into Chloe’s bag and pulled out the odd cylinder with an eye on it. “And this?”

“I believe that might be our key. Poke the pupil of the eye.”  
As Nadine did so, the cylinder snapped open. Two, what looked like, sharp round blades came out. There was some writing on both blades.

“That is the symbol of the Anja, the Third Eye. Those keyblades are two lotus flowers, Shiva is written on the left and Shakti, the goddess of universal energy on the right. The entire whole is the symbol of the Third Eye. The key looks to be have been made in the 17th century, matching our Maratha Empire. Perhaps the Marathis had found the orb, used it to gain land over the Mughal and stored it away somewhere. And that would be our key inside.”

“Alright so where do you think this orb is stored?”

“I have no idea. During the Maratha Empire, they didn’t exactly erect many temples. Only Fortresses. And there are dozens of those in this region.”

“That’s like finding a needle in a hay stack.”

“We just need to narrow down which Fortresses were formed around the time of the first few kings of the Maratha Empire. Supposedly the first king and his son used a weapon that was described as spitting fire. That’s a good start.”

“An orb that shoots out fire. Sounds weird.”

“Hey it would fetch a good price, partner.”

Nadine fiddled with their key, “Are you sure about this?”

“Why yes.”

“You should be resting. With those ribs of yours….”

“Oh please. This time we won’t be dodging bullets, fighting sociopaths or falling out of helicopters. It will be boring.”

“We might be doing a lot of climbing.”

“You mean you will be doing the climbing. You’re the pupil so you will be doing all the heavy lifting on this one love.”

“Well if it prevents you from breaking a rib, I’ll gladly do so.”

“The teacher is pleased. Gold star for you.” Chloe patted Nadine’s thigh.

As they pulled into a city just outside of Mumbai, they pulled up to a small hotel. Nadine went to fetch their room keys as Chloe went to the local library. The city was small and cute. Very quiet yet filled with friendly locals. Chloe did what she did best and scanned the local library for the Maratha Empire. Hopefully by looking up a timeline of the first two kings and when the first of the Marathaian Fortresses were erected, it would compose a short list of locations to scout out.

Chloe wordlessly tucked herself in an aisle with a book in hand. Scanning the old text documents she kept coming back to one Fortress by the name of Raigad, one the first Fortresses of Maratha. The first king of the Maratha Empire was Shivaji. He made the Raigad Fortress into the empire’s capital. Raigad appeared again after the death of Shivaji. Many of the king’s children wished for his throne, but it was his son who took back Raigad to prove he was the rightful heir. His son was described as a ruthless warrior, who used various degrees of torture to his Muslim enemies. His massive armies were fearsome. But what was very odd is that it seems that this mysterious orb that spat fire was only talked about with the father, Shivaji. No such orb was mentioned to be in the son’s hands. A ruthless man like that probably would have done so much with an orb of that power, but why didn’t he have it? Why did the father only have the orb? Chloe pulled out a current map and began circling the Raigad Fortress. Seems like their first stop would be there.

But then Chloe felt a hand creep against her shoulder, she let out a tiny scream which was covered by a hand. “Shhhhhhhh…..” came a male voice. A voice she did not recognize.

“Looks like you took the bait on finding the Eye for us. And it seems you narrowed down what was once a huge field down to a proper location. The Eye is in Raigad isn’t it?” The voice was gruff and slimy. “Asav would have wanted a fine artifact as that one.”

Oh shit.

“An orb that can spit fire. I think we will be taking that to thin out the filthy blood line.”

Shit, this was one of Asav’s men. A rebel. One that is blinded by Asav’s guidance. A memory flashed before Chloe of one of Asav’s last words, ‘More will take my place.’ Looks like this adventure was going to be another bullet dodging one. But wait shit, if they tracked her to the library? Then what about Nadine?! Chloe stupidly told her no guns were going to be needed for this adventure, how could she be so stupid to think they would be safe.

The slimeball behind her kept his face well hidden. She could feel one of his hands caressing her bum, and then feeling around to her front, “The key that you got from the Ministry, where is it?”

SHIT and these guys knew about the Ministry setting her up for this hunt. Luckily she didn’t have the key on her, Nadine had it. This was bad real bad! Chloe had to get back to Nadine, fast. She slammed her foot down on top of the slimeball’s foot. He loosened his grip and she took that moment to whip around break his neck. It was then that she could get a good look at his face. He was one of the assistants at the Ministry, the guy with the mustache and scar. An undercover agent no doubt. She gently laid his body on to the floor noiselessly, they were in a library after all. Thinking fast Chloe ripped out a page in the book about the layout of the Raigad Fortress and then bolted for the library’s back exit. Sprinting with all her might and dashing her way through the crowded streets she came up to the hotel. As she made her way into the lobby, she could see Nadine getting ready to receive their keys. Nadine could see the panic in Chloe’s eyes.

“Ross we have a situation!”

Gunfire erupted into the lobby. Hotel patrons screamed and ducked for cover. Chloe and Nadine sprinted towards the back of the hotel and took cover behind a large pillar.

“What the hell Frazer, you fighting with the locals already?!” Nadine screamed over the gunfire.

“They’re rebels, some of Asav’s men. One of them was at the Ministry undercover and tracked us here. They know we are looking for the Eye!”

“Ah shit!”

“You still got the key?”

“Yeah I still got the bloody key in my pocket!”

“Well we can’t stay here, we gotta head to that Eye before they do!” Chloe sprinted further down scanning for a back exit. They had to get to their Jeep, at least it was loaded with camping supplies and food. They were gonna have to go off the grid to remain hidden from the rebels.

Nadine followed close behind, cursing that she didn’t have a gun. “You know where the Eye is?”

“Yeah but unfortunately so do they.”

“Damnit Frazer!”

“They snuck up on me once I made my mark.” Chloe bolted out the door and could see their Jeep just in sight. The gunshots echoed behind them, they were getting closer.

“Now we’re back to dodging bullets and racing to get to the treasure!” Nadine barked, obviously very frustrated with their current situation.

“In this line of work, its like a regular Monday.” Chloe tried to joke as she jumped into the driver side, Nadine hopped in the passenger side. The engine revved and they floored it off of the main roads.

As they were exiting the main road, they say several military grade vehicles swarming the city. All of them were teeming with rebel soldiers. One of them spotted them and began to give chase. However the girls had a decent head start and an off road vehicle, they were able to ditch them.

Chloe took a dirt road with heavy foliage. Nadine went to work on looking at paper map for the Raigad Fortress. They had to get there before Asav’s men did. Raigad was now an off limits, sightseeing only attraction. No tourists inside which meant no civilians to come between them and the rebels.

By the time they reached the outskirts of the Raigad, it was pitch dark. Not even the moon was out.

“Alright, we’ll setup base camp here and tuck in for the night.” Chloe parked the Jeep. They took shelter in some dense part of the forest. With their luck, this ancient Fortress was surrounded by a natural preservation. Not a soul for dozens of miles.

Nadine began unpacking their small tent and sleeping mats. Chloe started making a small fire, she gingerly rubbed her bruised side as she poked the logs to catch flame.

“Here, remove your shirt.” Nadine approached her with some thick gauze.

Right on cue, “Back for more eh?”

“Shut up, this will help keep your torso together.” Nadine slipped her fingers under Chloe’s red shirt and slowly pulled it off. The bruising on her right side was still pretty gnarly.

Chloe flinched as Nadine began tightly wrapping her chest up just under her bra. “It seemed we’ve entered phase 2 of our adventure together with a private army up our backs. So much for an easy first run together as partners.”

Nadine let out a laughable exhale, “If I’m being honest, I like a bit of excitement. The danger, the chase, the adrenaline.”

“It’s the hazards of this line of work, but yeah me too. I’d take an adrenaline rush over a day at the library doing research.”

Nadine finished knotting the gauze around Chloe’s torso. Her hand lingered on her damaged side, “But it’s not worth it if you get hurt.”

Chloe tried to take a deep breath with her torso now confined. It hurt alittle less, but she would be popping pain killers still. She pulled one out from her pocket and chugged one down dry. “Well if we are still being honest, I would feel much worse if you got hurt. I am the one who pulled you along in the first place.”

Nadine grabbed for Chloe’s hands. “But it’s very different this time. Because we are in this together. I’m not gonna leave you, I won’t doubt you.”

“You’re not gonna punch me again?”

“Ha, no. I promise I’ll save your ass every time.” Nadine moved one hand up to cup Chloe’s face. The foxy thief couldn’t help but bite her lip.

“It is an ass worth saving.”

“Shut up.” Nadine pulled her in for a kiss. Her heart was still racing from being chased, she believed it was the way how Chloe looked at her is what kept it going. The way how she would size her up as if to think how she would look in bed. Or what she would look like under her clothes.

This was a proper kiss, it was tender and sweet. A promise that more kisses were coming. Chloe added a bit more heat to this sea of kisses she was receiving. Deepening the kiss, she caressed the back of Nadine’s neck, pulling her in closer. With her hardened calloused hands, Nadine rubbed Chloe’s back. She lifted Chloe off of the ground and into her lap. The heat of their tiny fire illuminated Chloe’s back as Nadine’s hands hugged her ass. This was the ass she would be saving a lot. She rubbed it gingerly as if worshipping it. Their lips never leaving each other. For several minutes it was just this, a tight embrace and lots of wet breathy kisses.

Chloe furrowed her brow in confliction. Though she did enjoy the sentimental softness of Nadine’s promise of protection, Chloe had to been dying for this for so long. The thief’s libido was an incurable appetite. And once Nadine came into her possession, she often fantasized about having that tough brutish face in between her legs. It was made even more desirable when Nadine confessed, however she feared she would be asking too much. Sentimentally or bang in the middle of the woods?

Fuck it, they were being chased by an army yet again. This could be their only moment of reprieve.

“Darling, I’m flattered by gentleness but we have been dodging bullets and near death situations for several days now. I’m powered keg about to exploooooOHH……”

She was waiting for an invitation. Nadine cupped Chloe’s crotch before she could finish her sentence. To her surprise the firm brushing against her mound was hypersensitive. The ex-mercenary grinned as she continued to grope the thief. Chloe planted her knees firmly by Nadine’s sides and leaned into her hand more. Her body went from a mild simmer to fully erupt.

“That’s more like it.” Chloe’s usual husky voice was now blurring into a breathy mixture of words.

Nadine couldn’t stop a menacing smile creeping up her cheeks. The way how intense Chloe stared her down, through half shut eyes and her silhouette being illuminated by their fire pit, she looked like such an inviting target. “I just have one question before we go any further.”

Chloe groaned, “Can’t we just skip the questions and get to the part with you about to fuck my brains out?”

Nadine began unbuttoning and unzipping Chloe’s jeans, “You are taking the lead on this mission, you’re leadership proved to be successful last time. But can I take the lead on this one tonight?”

This one? Oh!!! Chloe bit her lip, “If you think you can handle it.”

“Ja, I’m up for a challenge.” Nadine took the reigns and didn’t hold back. She craned her head up and kissed her mischievous partner. Her fingers snaked under the hem of Chloe’s pants and began pulling them downwards. Nadine’s lips pebbled their way down her chin and to her throat, evoking a hiss from Chloe. Her nimble fingers found the now naked lips of Chloe’s sex. The poor girl was soaking, her hips were already bucking in anticipation. Testing the fire, Nadine slid one of her thick fingers over her slit. Chloe responded with a hungry whine and clenched her fingers into Nadine’s kinky hair. Nadine began churning her finger through her damp lips until she finally slipped her entire finger inside her wet snatch all the way down to the third knuckle. Chloe’s reaction was more than pleasing, it was enjoyably erotic. Her breathe hiked up to a high pitch and then followed with a trembling exhale. Nadine had been fascinated by how that husky voice of hers would sound under her strong hands. That one audible pitch shift turned Nadine’s fascination into an obsession, she must hear that again. She began stroking her one digit slowly in and out of Chloe, making sure to press up against that notorious G spot and rubbing it all the way out.

“Ffffffffuck.” Chloe exhaled. Nadine knew what she was doing. Who put her in charge? Her hips couldn’t help but rock to Nadine’s rhythm, however they clenched every time she teased that inner spot. She wasn’t fooling around, she was going straight to the heart of her aching drive. Her itchy trigger finger was determined to make Chloe a mess. Her voice could no longer return to her normal deep tone, it was caught in her high register. Every exhale was a sweet breathy moan.

Nadine’s teeth scrapped along her neck and left tiny bites down on her collarbone. Her head was spinning, having her partner under her spell like this was intoxicating. Every move she was making was turning this strong, stubborn woman into squirming, helpless mess. A hot mess at best. Nadine couldn’t tell if she was getting drunk off of Chloe’s enjoyment or drunk off the power she had over her, but Nadine felt an overwhelming need to dominate her. And not just a simple placing a flag on a mountain top and claim as yours. Nadine was talking about destroying her. This woman had been berating her with sexual jokes, additional touches, and tripping her up since they first met. She was gonna pay for that. Collectively in this moment, Nadine was going to destroy her for frustrating the hell out of her.

Without any kind of warning, Nadine unfortunately ripped Chloe’s mighty bra with a forcible tear just to get a mouthful of her breasts. Chloe let out a surprised moan as her bra was ripped from her torso then followed by a hunger pair of lips clamping to her nipple.

“N-Nadine….my god, if I would have known you were this good, I would have fucked you the first time I saw you.” Chloe giggled through her breathy high moans.

Nadine, though enjoying that compliment, was too focused on her war path, “No talking Frazer.” She ordered.

 “Or on that boat.”

“Frazer.”

“Or maybe as soon as we got the Tusk.”

“I mean it Frazer.”

“Hell I probably would let you ride on me throughout that entire trippPPPPP OHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

Nadine slapped three, yes three fingers fully up inside Chloe. She curled them into a triangle shaped dildo and began stroking her. Faster this time. “I warned you, no talking.” She threatened her with a predatory glare.

Chloe’s voice hit a more aggressive higher state which Nadine was falling in love with. She was no longer trying to hide these squeals with breathy exhales, they were loud as they echoed into the night. She howled at the starry sky. Her whole body was collapsing into an implosive heat as she was quickly approaching a long overdue orgasm. Then abruptly Nadine stopped. Everything.

Chloe opened her eyes and looked down at Nadine and whimpered, “No……I was so close…..”

“Beg for me.” She ordered.

Chloe let out a frustrated groan, “But you told me not to talk.”

Using her free hand, she clasped Chloe’s ass with a hard smack and then grasped the muscle tightly. This evoked another high breathy whine from her. “Say it.”

“Damnit Ross…….p-please.” She whispered her plea.

Nadine entered Chloe with just one finger and slowly moved in. Her snatch felt tight as it was approaching a full on orgasm, her whole body was trembling. Nadine’s free hand had to support her back so she couldn’t fall back into the fire. But Chloe’s half assed response wasn’t enough to warrant a full on orgasm. She could do better than that.

Chloe threw her hands up over her face, heat radiating off of her cheeks. She gave a quick pout, “Ross, please for the love of god, shove that back inside me! I will get on my hands and knees if I have to!”

Nadine couldn’t help a giggly smile creep over her face. It was enjoyable to see Chloe break under this kind of pressure. With one strong scoop of her arm, she laid Chloe down on her back beside them. Nadine hovered over her and planted a wet kiss on her lips. She figured it was time to pin this woman down and really give it to her. The three fingers returned to awaiting snatch, she flexed her forearm and rapidly pumped her fingers at an incredible speed. Chloe had no choice but to hold on for dear life as Nadine destroyed her pussy. The poor woman arched her back as her body was consumed by the white blinding heat of a harshest orgasm she had ever felt. Her nails dug into Nadine’s tense shoulder blades and left a red trail in her wake as she screamed into the night. Her voice squealed as she spasmed around Nadine’s hand.

The rush left her and she was soon overcome with the exhaustion of the afterglow. Panting heavily, she looked up at her smug partner who was licking her moist fingers.

“You’re cute when you cum.” Nadine complimented with a giggle.

Reeling in her post orgasm, Chloe slammed her beefy bicep, “Shut up. Is this how you treat all of your patients Dr. Ross?”

Nadine burst out laughing, Chloe loved her laugh, “You’re my one and only patient. And I think its time we got some sleep. We’ll head out at first light.”

 


	3. The Father, The Son, The Orb

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave a comment and let me know how im doing.

“C’mon, it’s a good name.” Chloe whined.

“No.” Nadine turned her back on her as she pushed back from branches and pressed on.

“What universe are you in where the company name: Adventure Seeking Scavengers wouldn’t be perfect for our company name?” Chloe trailed behind her. There was barely enough morning light to illuminate their way through the thick jungle. As they were stumbling through the darkness, Chloe thought it would be a brilliant idea to come up with names for their partnership.

“You do realize that spells ‘ASS’?”

“Exactly the reason why we should use it!”

Nadine let a toothy smile cross her lips which she was hiding from Chloe, she did honestly love the idea that her partner was taking her so seriously that they were deciding on naming an LLC for their partnership. It was a huge step in the right direction, a great marker for the next chapter in her life.

“No one would take us seriously with a name like that. Why can’t we just call it Ross-Frazer Archeological Hunters or something?”

“Because that sounds dry and boring. Plus your name is in front of mine. I’m the one that is hiring you into this company darling.”

“I thought I would be your co-owner, meaning I get half. Therefore my opinion counts as just as important as yours.”

“You haven’t been promoted yet. Keep putting in some overtime and you might be pushed up to manager.” Chloe patted her on the shoulder when she finally caught up. They came to a clearing where they could see it, Raigad Fortress, the former capital of the Maratha Empire. It was a massive stony structure almost built like a castle. Moss, vines and other natural elements covered the giant man-made fortress. It rested on a massive hill with a huge cliff side on its left and on the right was a great lake licking at its borders at the base. The sun was just peaking its way over the watch towers of the Fortress.

Nadine marveled at its beauty, “Tell you what, whoever spots this orb first, gets to have their name in front.” She gave Chloe’s bum a slap and started a steady jog for their destination.

Chloe beamed, “Oh you’re on China.”

They had been making decent headway into the jungle. They hadn’t seen any signs of Asav’s remaining army yet. Which meant that they had the head start. If they could snag the orb and sneak away before those goons realize it, it would be the most ideal of situations. Worst case they would be looking at a similar situation with the Tusk, luckily this time there was no train or bomb. Just a lot of desperate men with firepower looking for revenge on two very capable women. Nadine was kind of hoping they would run into one of the army’s camps along the way before reaching Raigad, at least they could steal some guns and knock a few heads. The ex-mercenary will have to do with her combat knife and sneaking tactics, for now.

As the ladies approached the huge main gate of the Fortress they realized two things: 1) this fortress had been under a massive siege. There were holes in the walls from canon fire, ‘Probably during the British Invasion towards the end of the Maratha Empire’ as Chloe put it. 2) ‘I should have brought my climbing gear.’ Nadine shook her head. The walls, although weak at some points, were still massive hulky structures to climb over. Nadine was making mental notes to herself about how she should always have a gun and a rope from now with every “easy adventure” with Chloe.

“Relax darling, we could use the sewage system into this city.” Chloe pulled out the map of the Fortress that she ripped out from that library book. She pointed to a tiny entrance on the old reprinted map.

As Chloe led them along to a small hole in the side of the wall, Nadine shook her head, “Well at least you won’t be doing any climbing, it would be too much strain on your ribs.”

“Yes Doctor.” Chloe mocked her.

The two crawled in through the tiny sewage drain, luckily it was all dried up and smelt of old rain water.

“How are your ribs this morning?” Nadine’s echoed in the stony tunnel.

“Sore, but I’ve been popping some pain killers with breakfast.”

“I made your dressings extra tight, that should help them stabilize so the bones can heal.”

“You made them tight alright, I can barely take a deep breath.” Chloe subconsciously rubbed her right side, she could feel the wraps under her shirt. They had been incredibly painful since she woke, sleeping on the ground would do that. She couldn’t wait for the pain killers to fully kick in.

Once they were finally inside, they could see the damage of what time and power had done to this once mighty Fortress. The British had left no trace behind. Many bunkers, storage units and shops were completely gone. Save for a couple of stone structures, it was almost completely barren.

Nadine rubbed the back of her neck, “You know I really hate British tactics. They always ruin all traces of great archeological finds.”

“I hear you there. But luckily the British didn’t understand Hindu. If we look for this symbol, the Anja, it might still be here. I doubt they had this key to whatever door it leads to.” Chloe pulled out the key from her bag. She poked the pupil of the eye on top and the two keyblades came out. “Look for an eye, or a triangle with two lotus pedals coming out on either side.”

“I bet we could start with the main building, the throne room.” Nadine pointed to the main center structure, a great Indian building with unique stonework. It gave off more of a Hindu temple vibe than a great military fortress. Nadine knocked door the front door with a mighty kick, the massive doors creaked on their rusty hinges. The main room was picked clean, nothing but cobwebs and dust. Save for a couple of bones probably Marathaians slaughtered by the British. The two hunted for any kind of Hindu markings or something similar to a keyhole. Nothing.

They moved from room to room. This was the Marathaian King’s home, the center of the Maratha Empire, but every inch of this place was picked clean. Save for a couple of old Marathaian swords and single barrel pistols and rifles. There wasn’t even a Hindu temple or pray room anywhere in the building. The two were growing more and more frustrated as they turned each room inside out. They had one place left to check and that was the room up a very sketchy flight of stairs. The tallest room in the tower of the building. Some of the stairs had been blow off, probably from a stray canon ball. No British officer could go up those steps. Perhaps they were in luck. And it was a good thing Chloe had a professional muscle on her side. Nadine hoisted her up to some stray piece of scaffolding. She managed to climb her way up to the next floor. Next came Nadine. This part was gonna be tricky. Chloe braced herself on the floor with her left arm dangling over the edge above the blown stairs. Nadine got a running start for the stairs. She jumped up to the highest point and then bounced off of it and reached for Chloe’s hand. She groaned as she took on Nadine’s full weight. She turned her body onto her good side and tried pulling her up with all of her might. As soon as Nadine could grab on to the edge, she was able to pull herself up with ease. The two stood up and dusted off. Take that British swine.

There was only one room on this floor and it was behind a locked door. A very thin, easily breakable door. Nadine smirked and then kicked the door in with such force the door came off its hinges and went flying into the room.

“Well I must say you are doing an excellent job of being the muscles. I should relax more often for these sorts of missions and let you do everything.” Chloe patted her on the shoulder.

“Oh please, you’re just saying that because you like watching me work.”

Chloe pouted out her lower lip and nodded, “Next time I need you to kick a door down, can you do it topless?”

The two entered the room, their giggly expressions turn to awe. The room was barely touched. There were papers scattered everywhere. And seated at a massive desk was a dead guy, very promising.

“I bet no one knew you were up here all this time friend.” Chloe smiled as she approached the skeleton slumped in its chair. The skeleton was sporting some very fine clothes and it looked like there were wisps of facial hair still clinging to its face. They were also wearing a very special hat. Chloe’s eyes widened, “Shit looks like our friend here was the last King of the Maratha Empire.”

Nadine looked around the room, putting clues together. There was a brown trail leading to the desk. “It looks like he was shot while the fortress was under attack by the British. He crawled his way up here to his office. The stairs got blown out so no one could get to him and he couldn’t get out.”

Chloe noted that there was a piece of paper clutched in the King’s hand. Curious she pulled it out of its death grip, “Mind if I barrow this? Thanks.”

“Are you always this talkative with the dead?”

“The King likes my charm.” She elbowed the skeleton, he shifted to his side facing Nadine. “I think he fancies you too.” Chloe unfolded the note and used the morning light coming in through the windows to read this dead man’s note. It was in Hindu, it was written with a very shaky hand. Probably the King’s last dying words. Chloe scrolled over a lot of the fluff of ‘I wish I had more time’, ‘those damn British’, ‘old childhood memories’, blah blah blah. Then an interesting word caught her eye, ‘orb’.

“Looks our King here was interested in the orb as well. ‘ _My biggest regret is that I never found one of our founding treasures of our great Empire. The orb gifted to us by Shiva. Our first King used its power and influence to rise against the Mughals. I curse his son for losing such an artifact, it could have aided us against these damn British_.’”

Nadine scrunched her brow, “So the first King’s son lost the Eye?”

“That’s what it sounds like.” Chloe stared at the paper, her brain reworking over the lines and all of their clues they had so far.

“Then how do we really know that the Eye is even here?” Nadine was starting to get a little annoyed. It was already noon and so far they have overturned the entire capital building and turned up nothing. Chloe got up and looked at all of the papers in the room, her eye was caught on a huge map overlooking the entire fortress. This map had a lot more detail. She glanced down at the key and then back at the map.

She exhaled a chuckle, “Oh its here alright. Nadine, remember this fortress was made by the first King. Tell me what does that map look like to you?” Nadine approached her shoulder.

“A triangle.” The entire fortress on the map was shaped like a triangle.

“And then what are those two things on either side of the fortress?”

“Looks like there is a cliff to the left and a lake to the right.”

“Exactly. History says that the first King’s son was a ruthless man. He would slaughter thousands of Muslims. But his main form of execution was throwing them over this cliff. Now here’s another curious fact, have you seen any Hindu temples in this fortress?”

“No.”

“The First King was known as one of the Saviors of Hindu, yet there are no temples inside the fortress.”

“Frazer, you are confusing me. Let me ask you again, how do we know that the Third Eye is even here?”

Chloe lifted the key up to Nadine’s face with a coy smile, she popped the lotus keyblades out from the key. “These two symbols on the lotus pedals. On the left is Shiva, the god of…….”

“Destruction.”

Chloe pointed to the cliff on the map.

“And on the right is Shakti, the goddess of……”

“The Universe.”

Chloe pointed to the lake, “Or power. My guess is that the first King built this fortress for the sole purpose of housing the Eye.”

Nadine’s smile returned, “Then it is here somewhere.”

“Since we haven’t seen a temple in the fortress, I bet you there’s one hidden somewhere near the lake.”

“Shakti, the goddess of power.” Nadine bit her lip, “I take it back, I think your brain might be the hottest part about you.”

 “THERE IN HERE!” came a male voice from downstairs. “SPREAD OUT FIND THEM!” Footsteps echoed throughout the building along with the metallic clinks of firearms.

“Fuck.” Nadine muttered under her breath and silently peered down the ledge to the floor below them. She held a protective arm in front of Chloe, purely on instinct.

Ross’s military training kicked into 110%, she could pick up the sound of 5 pairs of feet on the floor below them. One was slowly making their way over to their stairs. It would be highly unlikely for these idiots to find them, but Nadine was itching for a gun for protection. She felt naked without one. She was going to try something risky.

Nadine kicked up some debris and pushed it off the edge, catching the attention of one of the guards. He came closer to the stairs. When he looked up to scan the stairs, a combat knife lodge right in his throat. He let out a tiny choke and his body went limp. Nadine grabbed hold of his collar to prevent him from falling to the ground and making a ruckus. She had to be swift. “Pull me up.” She whispered.

Chloe was holding on to Nadine’s ankles and struggling. The mercenary was dangling off the edge and now it was up to Chloe to pull both her and this dead dude. She grunted as she pulled the weight of two people up the ledge. Once Nadine had her hips on solid ground, she could lift the dead rebel with ease. Nadine paused, it sounds like their kidnapping went unnoticed. The guy had two guns, a Beretta and an AK-47. He had a decent amount of ammo on him as well. Perfect. Nadine handed Chloe the Beretta.

“Why do I get the small gun?” Chloe whispered.

“Because I’m doing most of the muscle this time.” Nadine tested the iron sights.

“But we can take more guys out if we work together.” Chloe loaded her side bag with 9mm.

“Fine but no big risk for you, got it Frazer?” Chloe loved it when Nadine called her Frazer, she would only now use it when she was either being very serious or if she was pissed. Perhaps she was both, Nadine was pretty upset that these guys cheated them out of a hotel last night.

“I’ll drop down and take the first few out. Move when I give you the signal.”

“Wait Nadine,”

“What!”

“Save a couple for me ya?”

Nadine grinned, “Fine.”

There was a loud thoud as Nadine’s boots impacted the wooden floor. 2 guys noticed her, she took advantage of their hesitation and dropped them both with a few shots. Nadine took cover behind a stone pillar as 3 guys from another room held up in a doorway. They took some pot shots at Nadine’s cover, Nadine called for Chloe.

From Chloe’s angle she was able to take the 3 bastards at the doorway. 3 headshots later, their floor was cleared. But more were coming.

As Chloe picked up some more ammo, she motioned for Nadine to head out the window, “We need to make it that lake. But we can have these jackoffs on our asses.”

“Copy that.” Nadine peered out the window, it seemed there was no patrols on this side of the building outside. She swung the AK’s strap around her torso and leaned off the window’s ledge. Chloe soon followed her out once she heard footsteps barreling up the stairs to their floor.

The two ladies dangled outside, slowly climbing down from the 4 story tall building. They had to climb down fast, they were like sitting ducks out here. As soon as they hit solid ground they sprinted into what looked like a blacksmith shop just next door. Their escape seemed to have gone unnoticed. But these guys were spooked.

Chloe pulled out her map of the Fortress again, there was a sewage tunnel close to them leading out to the lake. She took the lead as Nadine followed right behind her. They weaved in between old structures and wordlessly made it to the sewage drain. Within seconds they were just outside of the wall.

Nadine felt rather proud of herself that they managed to escape so smoothly and unhurt. “Hopefully that little encounter will keep them in the Fortress, they’ll think we’re there, when we are going where the orb really is.”

“See it pays to have brains on your side. Without Asav leading them, it should be easy to outsmart these buffoons.”

“But we don’t know how many there are, we should stay alert. Don’t want them ambushing us.” Always the soldier.

“Well I’ll leave you to that. I’m gonna look for a lead on this mysterious water temple.” Chloe looked around. Just outside the Fortress’s walls was this massive lake not 50 feet from away. There were wreckages of docks and fishing houses, but nothing was striking. Chloe looked down at her map. And then looked out the water. She lowered her brow and made a perplexed hum.

“Something is not right. This map is wrong.”

“Well you did pull that one from a textbook. Why didn’t you grab the map from the office?”

“It was too big to fit in my pocket dear, but don’t worry lucky for us I have a pretty good photographic memory. The lake on the map in the office showed the water level being a lot further from the wall.”

“So the water level rose due to rainy seasons.”

Chloe pouted, “On the map it also showed a long dock on it too. One that stretches a quarter of the way into the lake.”

“That’s a long dock for just a fishing port here. But it looks like all of the docks eroded away.”

“So you would think.” Chloe didn’t buy it. She walked over to the direction of where the dock would be in reference to the office’s map. She couldn’t quite make it out but she could see something in the water. A stone?

She walked towards it. Her boots now several inches deep in dark lake water. Now she could definitely see it, a stone walkway under the water. It led further out into the lake, just like on the office map. She began walking out on the path, now shin deep in cold lake water. Well it was refreshing for a hot afternoon. When Nadine looked back at her, she blinked rapidly. It almost looked like Chloe was walking on water. She cautiously followed behind, mesmerized by the incredible work it must have took to build this into the lake. The girls made it 100 feet out into the lake until Chloe saw a structure jutting out of the lake, a raised man hole.

“This looks promising.” Chloe leapt up to it and noticed the lid of this man hole had a familiar indent. “And look, how weird.” She took out the key and it fit perfectly in the slot. She gave the keyblades a turn and their entrance opened up. “After you.”

There was a long ladder descending into absolute darkness. Nadine flipped on her flashlight, there was a metallic ladder but it was rusty from the moisture levels inside. It looks like it descended into a large chamber. It was a 30 foot drop to the chamber floor below.

Nadine took to the ladder and made her way inside. Chloe followed suit and closed the lid, leaving no trace of where they were for the soldiers to follow. The chamber floor has wet and mossy, it smelled like mold and swampy water. However there was hint of something slightly sweet and floral. The chamber appeared to be stretching into a hallway going back towards the Fortress. And the architecture, man. The Fortress lacked any kind of Hindu religion, and it was all in here. The walls were covered in statues of various gods and goddess, stories in carving and of faded paint.

“Chloe,” Nadine’s cautious voice echoed in the chamber as she directed it towards some scribblings on the walls. This was not part of the décor, it was graffiti. Written in blood. There were a skeleton of a Marathiain soldier slumped in the corner of the chamber. It had its chest bashed in.

Chloe read out the Hindu blood writing, “ ‘ _Father lied, denied my birthright, all will burn_.’”

“So someone killed this man and then wrote these using his blood.”

“Right, and if I were to guess, I bet it was the son.”

“Of the First King?”

“I think the son came here to look for the orb and somehow was denied it by his father.”

 “One thing is clear, the son hated his father. What does this mean for the orb?”

“Let’s find out.” Chloe pressed forward.

As the ladies exited the chamber, they descended down some stairs to an even larger chamber. It was filled with statues holding giant axes, hammers and swords, all held up in a threatening manner. Chloe had a bad feeling about this, until she heard a click after stepping on a bricked stone. Suddenly the statues came to life and began slamming their weapons down. If they were to reach the door at the end of the chamber, they would have to run through a mess of trouble.

Nadine flashed her a look, ‘Way to go genius.’

“Well it could be worse, the room could be on fire.” Chloe noted and passed through the first weapon.

It was a simple maneuver of timing and dodging. “Be light on your toes, shall we dance?” Nadine followed close behind her. Her fingers were ready to strike in case she needed to save Chloe from clumsy footwork. After all they have been through, she wasn’t about to let her partner get cut in half by some Hindu statues. The closer they were getting to the door, the more frequent the strikes were and the faster they were coming. The girls were dodging way too many close shaves. They were skirting these powerful blows by centimeters.

As Chloe was jumping over a hammer, Nadine watched in slow motion as an axe was coming right for Chloe’s head. Nadine knew there was no time for Chloe to dodge that, adrenaline coursed through her veins and she acted on impulse. She gave Chloe a hard shove, sending the woman safely out of the way. Meanwhile the axe’s direction was coming right for her. Nadine stupidly grabbed the axe between both hands and managed to slow it down. The blade just barely nicking her shirt as it froze in between her ripping arm muscles. With a shout, she pushed the blade down and managed to rip the arms out of the statue’s mechanics. The statue tumbled over into its neighbor and created a domino effect. Many of the statues collapsed. Unfortunately one collided into the wall, water was beginning to leak in through it. Water was coming out by the galloons. Within a few hours, this whole chamber could be flooded. But there are worse ways to deal with these annoyingly armed statues.

Chloe stared up at her hulking friend, she just took out an entire room with one thrust. She was beyond impressed, she was aroused. Nadine did all of that, for her. Chloe was in a daze when Nadine offered her a hand up and apologized for the shove.

Chloe was gawking, she almost never does that. She blinked rapidly, “You just cleared this entire room with one move!”

Nadine smirked, “I’m sorry I didn’t have my top off this time.”

Chloe bit her lip and giggled, “You smartass. Alright fine, you earned that promotion as manager.”

Nadine held Chloe, her hands resting on her hips, her eyes studying Chloe’s. Those brown eyes of hers were dilated. Her very sudden closeness was almost startling Chloe, but it wasn’t wrong at all. “After all this, I think I might need a new title: Chloe’s own personal ass saver.”

“We can put it on your business card, right next to Don’t Cross Ross.” Chloe was feeling incredibly warm with Nadine being this close. Memories of last night flashed before her, about how aggressive yet tender Nadine was. How her thick fingers felt stroking her. She blinked it away, they had an orb to find. She wiggled out of Nadine’s arms and approached their door into hopefully the orb chamber.

“Well I’m gonna need Door Breaking Ross right now. If I may have this honor.” Chloe gestured to the stone slab of a door.

Nadine smirked, “Or I could just push this button.” The cheeky mercenary walked over to a button near the doorframe. The stone slab slide to the side.

“Thank you love.”

As soon as the door opened, a warm draft overcame them followed by that florally sweet scent they caught a whiff of earlier. This room must be the source of the smell judging by its potency. Chloe could see a puddle starting to form in the statue chamber and it was heading for them, better get a move on before they drown.

As Chloe entered the next chamber, she became a bit claustrophobic. This wasn’t a chamber it was a hallway. There was barely 3 feet of room as it stretched on for about 50 feet. The walls had a slight angle to them, making the hallway look like a V. The ceiling was covered in vines that bloomed a pink purple flower. It was stretching its way over the walls and down to the floor. It was a flowery hallway. Very odd. But there was clearly another door at the end of this hallway. By her calculations, they journeyed almost halfway through the stone path of the lake, making their way back towards the Fortress. Chloe looked down at her watch, they were making great time. It was only 1pm. The orb chamber would have to be after this one. Should be easy enough. They could grab the orb, leave quietly and maybe break out the MREs for lunch.

Chloe flicked on her flashlight, “Alright shall we have a go?”

Nadine was pinching her brow and blinking rapidly, the release of pollen must be getting to her. These were cave flowers that had been sealed for hundreds of years, it was going to be very strong. She nodded and turned her light on.

It was even worse as soon as Chloe took a step further in. The smell was wonderful but it was filling her lungs and consuming her breath. It had a sweet pea smell mixed with roses. It was reminding her of warm nights shagging up with a hot date. It was an erotic smell. As she took a few more steps, her mind couldn’t help but wonder. She started remembering Nadine from last night and the night previously. Her nether regions started to ache just thinking about Nadine’s strong arms. Whether she was cuddling her or fucking her, Nadine was an impressive woman. Probably the hottest woman she had ever laid her eyes on. Chloe let out a sigh and was surprised to find it came out all wrong. It escaped out of her like a moan then a simple exhale.

“C-Chloe?” She held Nadine’s slightly trembling voice. That tone kind of scared her, Nadine sounded uncertain about something.

Before Chloe could even turn her head to look at her partner, she saw Nadine’s light drop to the floor. A pair of hands reconnected to her hips. One hand sliding down between her legs.

“Woah, woah China!” Chloe’s body trembled as if it was carving this kind of touch all along.

“Frazer, something’s wrong. I can’t………It’s so hot in here.” Nadine’s voice whispered in her ear. Her words were slurring between alarm and eroticism. Nadine’s fingers were touching that tender mound meanwhile her other hand slid up to Chloe’s breast. “Fucking damnit……Frazer you’re not wearing a bra.”

“Someone ripped it in half last night. Nadine get a hold of yourself and get your hands off.” But as soon Chloe barked that order, she immediately regretted it. Her core was buzzing to life, asking for another round with Nadine.

“I-I can’t.” Her lips brushed Chloe’s neck. “I need this.” Nadine’s finger became more aggressive yet tender. They began stirring at Chloe’s body similar how they did last night. Her mighty hand squeezed tightly on her right breast. Her left immediately trying to squirm its way under her tight pants.

Chloe didn’t try to fight back, any attempt felt like an act of betrayal. She dropped her flashlight to the floor and braced her arms against the flower covered walls. Her fingers clenched several buds and she squeezed them to death as Nadine’s fingers found their way to her awaiting slit. Unlike last night, Nadine went in whole hog with 3 of Chloe’s favorite fingers and immediately started pumping them in and out of her.

“F-Fuck.” Chloe leaned her back into Nadine’s firm stance. She had her completely captured. Chloe’s knees weakened, but she was held securely up by those 3 damn fingers. Her nipples were piercing right through her red shirt. Nadine’s lips found a tender spot to chew on her neck and Chloe lost it. Her whole body twitched as she orgasmed, ripping out more flowers from the walls.

The flowers. It had to be the flowers. Chloe tried to fight off the comforting bind of an afterglow and find some sense in all this, “Nadine…..we can’t. Not here.”

Suddenly Chloe was spun around and was flatten against the angled wall. A pair of lips silenced any kind of logic she was trying to hold on to. Nadine’s tongue fought for entrance and then battled hers for dominance. Chloe had to make a move, something to get her stop. But Chloe’s hands weren’t listening, they grabbed hold of Nadine’s pants and began undoing her belt. Nadine’s breathed heavily into their heated kisses. And for the first time, Chloe felt her hulky stance tremble. She froze with anticipation as Chloe’s fingers fumbled with the zipper and then later slide under her underwear. Chloe’s body moved on its own and she pushed Nadine against the opposing wall, their lips never released. It wasn’t until Chloe slid one finger in and evoked a moan from Nadine that they finally stopped kissing.

Chloe attempted again at finding her words, “Nadine, the flowers…….the flowers are making us do this.” She clenched her hand and retracted her finger. She had to stop this. Before they would go any further down this rabbit hole.

Nadine looked up at her like she had been shot. “You’re doing this Frazer.” She clenched Chloe’s ass and pulled her onto her leg, making sure Chloe’s hips were angled just right on her thigh. Chloe let out a gasp. Nadine continued to manhandle her, she grabbed Chloe’s wrist and wringed it. As if she was punishing her from stopping. “You made me do this. With that ass of yours.” Her words were tense and twisted in pleasure. “You’ve tangled yourself up in my life. You can’t let me go, I won’t let you.” Nadine’s eyes were fully dilated, her brown eyes were consumed by her hungry pupils.

“I’m not letting you go, we just need to leave this room.” Chloe was trying to rationalize.

“It’s not fair. You had your turn, and when its finally my turn you turn your tail and run away. Do you leave all your lovers like this?” Nadine was cutting into Chloe like a knife.

“Nadine I wouldn’t…”

“I thought you would be good at this. Or is Chloe Frazer only a dick handler?” Now she was really being ruthless.

Common sense was failing Chloe, it seemed anytime she made any attempt, Nadine was there with a knife to her throat. Nadine was holding her hostage. No it wasn’t Nadine, it was the flowers. These damn flowers. It was hopeless to argue, Nadine was too wrapped up. But Chloe felt Nadine’s words hitting her chest like a powerful arrow. She was cornering her, leaving her with nowhere to run. Chloe’s ego was on the line, she was being sized up.

“I’m not walking away this time.” Chloe barked back as she slid two fingers into Nadine’s snatch. She let out a surprised gasp, her finger curled into Chloe’s hips. Logic failed, and Pleasure won. Chloe had a woman to satisfy and she was determined, no one calls out Frazer like that leaves standing.

Chloe pressed her body against Nadine’s, their breasts squished together. Chloe stroked her 2 fingers. Nadine’s body was melting, as if it had been waiting for this moment for so long. Her fingers were instantly drenched and liquid was pooling in her palm. Uncurling her thumb, Chloe placed her thumbprint down on Nadine’s clit and began rubbing it a gentle circle.

Nadine let out a howl. That one dirty trick broke the last strong brick of the sturdy hulky wall that was Ross, and now she was this puddle being manipulated by Chloe. Every exhale was a moan that was sweet to Chloe’s ears, she was proving herself.

“I’m an expert at pussy darling. I won’t make you forget it.” Chloe purred and bit down on Nadine’s throat, making her entire body tremble. Her inner muscles began to clench around her fingers, she craned her head up as she let out a cry. Chloe increased her tempo and sent the poor woman into a frenzy. Nadine’s breath caught in her throat and her whole body seized up. The thief intended to steal her breath away and make Nadine ride out this orgasm as long as she could stand. Nadine’s fingers dug into her hips, leaving red marks. Her thigh shook violently under Chloe’s crotch like her own personal vibrator. After several grueling seconds, Chloe finally slowed down and Nadine came down hard. Panting and gasping for air, staring up at Chloe with half-shut eyes. After several labored breathes, life came back into her body. Nadine’s hands caressed and firmly grabbed Chloe’s buttcheeks. Chloe let out a hiss which was then dampened by Nadine’s lips. Heat ignited between them as they helplessly rubbed their bodies together. Breasts compassing breasts, hips grinding the other, tongues battling. They breathed in each other’s moans and slide their fingers everywhere they could touch. Skin on skin was their only form of communication now. Orgasms began to blur together, it was becoming harder to discern one from another or if it was all one continuous orgasm. Neither of them took turns anymore, they both wanted the other just as much as feeling that continuous chain. Hot white fluid became like sweet nectar. A thin layer of sweat was their blanket. Their racing heartbeats became a song. A song that neither them wanted to stop.

Chloe’s hand then made contact with cold. It was the first time she had felt anything this cold in awhile. It was cold and wet. She opened her hazy eyes to find dark water up to her thighs. As if being slapped out of a dream, Chloe finally snapped out of it. Fuck she forgot about the water level. She looked around to find that the water from the previous chamber was now leaking into this one. It was already up to her upper thigh. How long did that take to raise that quickly? Chloe looked down at her wrist watch, it was now 2:30pm. They had been stuck like this for an hour and 30 minutes. Chloe grabbed for her flashlight which was floating nearby and was surprised to see her red shirt. She looked down to see her bare chest and Nadine, leaving hickies all over her breasts. Nadine was still entranced. How was the flower so intensely affecting her, and not herself? Chloe thought there was no way Nadine was more promiscuous than herself. It had to be the strong pain killers she had been taking, a part of her was being numbed by the flowers effect. She had to take advantage of this moment of clarity to awake Nadine.

Chloe braced herself, this was going to be like poking a sleeping bear. Chloe splashed Nadine relentlessly with the freezing cold water. The sleeping bear was now awake. Nadine came out with fists and anger. She blinked to find a topless Chloe and being waist high in water.

Throwing her shirt back on quickly, Chloe didn’t give Nadine much time to process. She grabbed her arm and ran for the other door. The flowers were giving off their last cry, filling their nostrils with their enticing embrace. Chloe slammed the button on the side of the doorframe and threw Nadine inside as water began to flood it.

Chloe made every attempt to avoid Nadine’s eyes, they just fucked the living daylights out of each other for nearly 2 hours, only to be barged in on by an oncoming watery death. Chloe tried to busy herself with her flashlight, which was completely waterlogged to avoid communication.

Nadine was gaining her senses back, as she pulled her pants back up to their appropriate spot back around her hips. A hot blush was pounding in her ears. She remembered all of it, she remembered being helpless as she began spouting out her feelings. How devious did she sound to Chloe? She cleared her throat, “Look…..ummmm.”

Chloe waved her hand, “Conversation for another time, China.”

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? For all of that?”

“No. Well yes, I mean….”

“Truth came out, we can handle damage control later.”

Nadine took a step back, “Damage? So my personal feelings are damaging?”

Chloe clenched her fists, “Damnit Nadine! We are about to drown! We can talk about this later once we leave with the orb and with our lives ok!”

Nadine’s steel face came back, “Fine.”

Once Chloe slammed the life back into her flashlight she surveyed their situation. This was the orb chamber for sure. Big statue of Shiva’s face, check. Chamber filling up with water, double check. Acting fast, Chloe ran up to the Shiva statue. She spotted their keyhole, it was symbolically above Shiva’s brow, right where his Third Eye would be. She grabbed the eye key out of her bag and activated the keyblades. Popping the key into place, the key spun around on its on as internal cogs and wheels churned. Soon the entire room came to life, the ceiling opened up and a giant statue of Kama, the God of Love, came down with his bow drawn and an arrow at the ready. It was aimed right at Chloe.

“Frazer?” Nadine tensed up, she didn’t like the look of this. Was this another test by the temple?

“Ross?” Chloe didn’t like this either. The ground at her feet began to rumble and a pedestal rose up from the ground. This was it.  A pedestal rose up to her eye level, but as it climbed in height, Chloe’s face dropped to horror. The pedestal was missing its prize, the orb was gone.


	4. A Harsh Descent

“Frazer! Where the hell is the Eye?!” Nadine shouted at Chloe as the water level of the room came up to her knees.

Chloe looked at the empty pedestal, back at Kama, and then back at Shiva. She was lost. This was probably what the son meant on the walls at the entrance, ‘Father lied, denied my birthright.’ So the son never had the orb, but where was it now? How could an orb that spits fire go missing?

“FRAZER!” Nadine shouted again.

“Ummmm…” Was Chloe’s only response as she looked back at their key, perhaps she missed something. She pulled the key out of its slot and examined it further. The cylinder item had a secret compartment that opened up upon reuniting with the Shiva statue. As Chloe opened it up, there was a note inside. She pulled it out and began reading hastily. It was a note from the First King to his son.

 

                ‘My beloved son, I cannot let this continue. Your desires have consumed you. I must hide what you seek before it destroys you. I’ve hidden it in a place you can never go, where your anger hides it all. I do this to protect you. The Eye is a birthright you will never have, isn’t my Empire enough? Open your Third Eye as I have. I love you, my son.’

 

“Shit.” Chloe racked her fingers through her messy sex crazed hair, “It’s not here.”

“What do you mean it’s not here?!”

“The father hid the orb from his son.”

“Goddamnit!” Nadine splashed the water in anger.

“ ‘I’ve hidden it in a place you can never go, where your anger hides it all. Open your Third Eye.’ That’s all we’ve got on a clue.” Chloe began searching around for any kind of lead as to what that means. Her eyes darted around, her inner wheels turning.

“Where else could it be? Another temple? Another Fortress?” Nadine was beyond pissed.

“Obviously he had to take it somewhere his son would never go. A place that evokes anger.”

Nadine punched the wall, bruised a few of her knuckles but leaving a good crack in the stone, “I’m about to destroy this whole place down in anger!”

Destroy…….destruction…..Shiva…….the left symbol of the Anja. “The cliffs!”

“What?” Nadine was reeling up to throw another punch.

Chloe had to shout over the sound of rushing water, “The son was at war with the Mughals throughout his entire life. When he led the Maratha Empire he took almost no prisoners, he always sentenced them to death at the Fortress’s cliffs.”

“…..A symbol of destruction! So his father hid the orb somewhere in the cliffs knowing his son would never go down there to look for it!” A smile broke through Nadine’s anger.

The chamber trembled, a crack began creeping along the sides. The temple was taking on too much water that its structure was collapsing. The girls frantically looked for an alternate exit. The Kama statue. It had descended from the ceiling. Judging the distances of the 3 chambers, the orb chamber had to be directly below the outer wall of the Fortress. When crafting such an elaborate temple like this, especially one that houses plant life, there had to be air flow reaching down here. Just left of the Kama statue was a small vent, big enough for them to climb out of. The girls both spotted it and began climbing up the massive Kama statue. The chamber was rapidly filling with water, the room was coming apart from the intense water pressure.

“Faster!” Chloe called to Nadine as they frantically climbed, just as her hands grabbed hold of the air vent she felt Kama shift. Kama came loose from the ceiling and began collapsing to the chamber’s watery floor. Nadine jumped off and grabbed hold of Chloe’s ankles. Chloe grunted as she took on her weight, her fingers screamed in pain. “Climb up hurry!!”

Chloe looked down to find Nadine reaching for her body, however when she looked down, the situation was growing dire. The statute collapsed in the chamber’s wall which opened up a new hole for more water. The water was brushing Nadine’s boots. This whole room was going to fill up within the blink of an eye. Thinking quickly, Chloe let go of the ledge and grabbed hold of Nadine. She locked her arms around her torso. There was barely any freefall as water exploded around them. The intense pressure shot them up through the air vent like a missile. They banged around the vent violently as the water carried them all the way to the surface. Like a geyser, they shot out on to solid land with gallons of water and debris. Chloe choked out a mouthful of water and moaned in agony, that ride was not good on her ribs. But its better than drowning in a collapsing water temple. Looks like the geyser dumped them right out next to the Fortress’s outer wall.

Nadine groaned, “Holy shit.” She was face down in the mud. She clutched the ground, grateful to see the earth again. “How the hell did we survive that?” Nadine slowly crawled on her knees to check on Chloe. She was surprised to find Chloe on her knees and staring skyward. The expression on her face was cold and defensive. Nadine looked up to where she was facing only see a barrel of a gun pointed at her face. Asav’s men had them completely surrounded. There were at least 20 men. And more were coming down from the Fortress.

One of them smirked down at Nadine and Chloe, he wore a red beret which meant he was the one in command, “You two have a good time down there? You made it so easy for us to find you. All the men were wondering where all those moans were coming from, at first they all thought it was a ghost. But it was you two down there fucking around.”

Nadine clenched her jaw, a wave of embarrassment flooded her chest. Her itchy fingers were fixing on firing off her AK, kill every last one that heard them. But there were way too many of them, she would be lucky enough to kill 5 before being gunned down by the rest. And there was Chloe, she would be in the line of fire.

“Did you find the Eye, or were you too deep into each other’s pussy to find it?” The men all giggled.

Now Nadine really wanted to do some real harm. Her veins were popping and her adrenaline pulsing. But a calm hand brushed her knee. Chloe fingers gripped her flexed thigh as if to hold her in place.

“You’re welcome to go down there and have another look.”

The man in the red beret crouched down to Chloe’s eye level. He got way too close to her face for Nadine’s liking. He studied Chloe’s poker face and then chuckled to himself, “You didn’t find it did you. It’s not down there but you know where it is. A smart girl like you, able to outsmart Asav. You will take us to where it is. Search her.”

The men got Chloe on her feet, she winced in response. At least three men had their hands all over her. They smiled as they breathed in the smell of the flowers still clinging to her skin. Their hands were doing more than just their job, they were caressing her curves, commenting on her being braless, poking fun at her bite marks around her neck. Nadine hated every second of it. She wanted so badly to rip all their balls off. She rose from her knees only to meet with a butt of a gun to the back of her head.

“Ah careful, no sudden movements.” One of them warned as they took the AK from her and her combat knife. They pulled her hands behind her back and she felt handcuffs click to her wrists. Fucking damnit! Nadine looked on helplessly as the men continued to grope her partner. They removed Chloe’s Beretta and ammo, as well as the key and the King’s letter. All were handed to the red beret asshole. He examined the letter and smiled, “So the orb was never done there. He hid it away from his son to a place he would never go. But I can tell you know where that is.”

Chloe shrugged back the groping hands that were touching her bum and inner thighs. But she was met with more aggressive pulls and grabs. “I’ll find it for you. Unless you let her go.”

What! Nadine widened her narrowed eyes, “The hell you are! I’m staying right here! Chloe I’m not leaving you here.”

The red beret silenced them both, “Quiet! Both of you are staying with me! I don’t intend for either of you to leave here alive, not after what you did to Asav and the rebel army. The only reason we don’t kill you know is because you still have some value. Both of you will find us the Eye.”

Chloe had had enough of this, one hand was starting to make its way underneath her shirt. She elbowed one rebel in the face, bloodying his nose, another she gut punched and then one she kicked in the crotch. Three men went down but more took their place and grabbed hold of her arms.

“Enough!” The red beret cocked back the Beretta and aimed it at Chloe’s forehead. “You will compile,” He then turned on his heels, the barrel of the handgun now pointed right for Nadine. “Or she will suffer greatly.”

He was going right for her weakness. Chloe stopped struggling and nodded in defeat. However she stared up at this asshole with defiant eyes. “The cliffs. The Eye is somewhere down the cliff side of the Fortress.”

The red beret gave a hard right hook to Chloe’s face, Nadine jolted but was pulled back. A stream of blood ran from Chloe’s nose.

“You want to lead my men to a death trap, those cliffs are impossible to scale.”

Chloe scrunched her brow, jesus that fucker hit a good one on her. “The son used those cliffs to send the Mughal prisoners to their deaths. As stated in that letter from his father, he put the orb in a place where his son would never go. He put it somewhere in the cliffs because he knew his son would never want to recover or visit the bodies of his enemies. In addition the cliffs are a symbol of destruction so that means Shiva. God do I have to spell it out for you?” She was answered with a hard slap, snapping her head to the other side.

“Fine.” The red beret asshole compiled. He got the two women on their feet. A pair of handcuffs were slapped on Chloe as well, the two of them were forced back through the Fortress and heading for the left most side of it.

“You alright?” Nadine’s eyes were traveling up and down Chloe’s body.

“Oh just peachy.”

“I hope you are right about the orb being there.”

“Oh it will be there. It has to be, its our only bargaining chip to stay alive.”

“And what happens after we reach the orb?”

Chloe was silent for a second, and with a soft voice, “We improvise.”

Nadine didn’t like that. She was just getting use to Chloe’s laid back ‘improvised’ acts. Her ballsy plans of just diving in with no plan made her unnerved. They worked in the past, but Nadine was having a hard time seeing how they were going to make it out of this one. She tried to change the subject, “How the hell were you able to get us out of that chamber? I had almost no control.”

“The flowers? Well it was obvious that the plant was there to evoke desire before reaching the orb. However since that plant has been down there for hundreds of years, it obviously overgrew into a very powerful aphrodisiac. I think the only reason we’re not fucking ourselves into a watery grave is because of my intense pain killers. Which I could use another one by now.” Chloe winced as her nose continued to bleed.

Nadine couldn’t help but let out an exhaled chuckle. They were saved by Chloe’s cracked ribs. “Flowers being used as a test to get to the Eye.”

“I never like flowers on a first date.” Chloe tried to search for humor.

“Well I’ll bring flowers on the second date then, if we can make it that far.”

“Relax, like I said we improvise.”

Nadine tried to get her mind off the overanalyzing how dire their situation was. “Why do you think the father hid the Eye from his son?”

“He said he did it to protect him.”

“What does that mean?”

“I have a theory, I just hope I’m wrong.”

One of the men shoved Nadine, “Quiet you two!”

As they left the Fortress walls, it was apparent that the entire army was surrounding them. Nadine counted at least 50 guys all armed to the teeth with assault rifles. They were all lined up near a fence that blocked them off from the cliffs below. Chloe and Nadine were shoved to the fence and forced to look down. Chloe was catching some vertigo. The cliffs were a nightmare. It was a steep climb of sharp jagged rocks. They were at least 7 stories up and could barely see the bottom.

“Are you sure, it’s down there?” The red beret asked one more time.

Chloe gulped and confirmed. With the flick of his fingers, men started setting up climbing gear. The terrain was must too dangerous to repel down, they were going to install safety ropes for the soldiers that would be climbing down. And of course no kind of safety was given to Nadine or Chloe. They were going to have to scale this cliff while having their arms handcuffed behind them. 10 men went down with them, all had harnesses and a rope following them down. In case one of them had a slipped or their footing gave way, the men up top of the cliff had a good hold on him to prevent him from falling. Chloe and Nadine struggled to descend, occasionally having a close call only to be caught by one of the men. But just barely. Chloe tripped over a massive rock and knocked into one guy. He got real handsy with her, he caught a whiff of that cave flower and couldn’t help but ‘assist’ Chloe further done the cliff. Chloe looked back at Nadine, she was 50 feet away from her. Chloe gave a wink and made a quick motion to her assailant. Using her teeth, she grabbed for a pin of a grenade strapped to his chest and pulled it from its hold. Without any kind of warning, Chloe jumped straight down, abandoning the path the soldiers were taking. She landed harshly on her legs, her momentum kept her falling forward. Her assailant panicked with his now cooking grenade. Nadine huddled into a ball and braced for impact. A tiny explosion took out 4 men including the one strapped to the grenade. Nadine remained unharmed, she leaned over the edge to look for Chloe.  Her body was tumbling down, her weight kept her falling further. A small avalanche of rocks were tumbling down after her.

“CHLOE!” Nadine shouted after her, she sprang into action without thinking. She round housed the closest soldier, he was impacted the rock wall and crushed his skull. Nadine jumped high in the air and hopped over her cuffed hands. Now she could use her hands in front of her. She grabbed the barrel of another guy and took the gun from him with a hard slack against the rock wall. Another one down. At least 3 more soldiers left that were scaling the wall with her. Bullets impacted the rocks around her as a few more men opened fire from above. She jumped out of the way and landed on top of another guy, they both fell off but were secured by his safety harness. Regardless of her taking a rebel hostage, the men opened fire on him anyway, shooting up his chest. Nadine let out a hiss of pain when one of the bullets impacted her left thigh. She grabbed for the man’s combat knife and began cutting the rope. Using the dead rebel’s body as a board, their first impact of their descent was taken mostly by the corpse. But Nadine lost her body board and tumbled the rest of the way down on her own. Kicking loose rocks along the way.

“NO!” The red beret raised a hand, “I will not risk anymore bullets or men! There’s no way they would survive that fall. We go down safely together and shoot them if they are still breathing.” But as he turned around he could see his men slowly retreating from the cliffs. Some began piling into their trucks and pulled away.

 

 

* * *

 

Chloe’s head was spinning. It felt like she just took a trip in a dryer. She couldn’t tell which way was up anymore. She blinked for a few seconds trying to come to her senses. Blood began to drip in her eyes. It was hot and it stung her sight. Was she dying? She thought her plan would work. She planned on causing a distraction so she could abandon the men when they were close to the bottom, looks like she was a bit further from the ground then she thought. As she surveyed the ground, she released it really wasn’t ground. It crunched underneath her as she fidgeted. A skull was staring right back at her.

“Oh hello.” Her voice came out hoarse and her tongue tasted blood. Feeling was returning back to her body. She began to move every part to do a mental check of what was broken and what wasn’t. Her right ankle was crying in pain as she tried to move her foot, that was sprained. But the rest of her legs seemed fine, relatively. She could feel her whole body would be covered in some lovely purple and red bruises. Her arms were still twisted behind her back, still handcuffed. But her left shoulder was throbbing and she couldn’t move the arm. That shoulder is popped out, great. And she had some minor abrasion on her brow, it was bleeding like a son of a bitch.

“Well it could be worse.” She tried to say but it was followed by a cough. Her ribs screamed in protest. “Shit!” Her cracked ribs on her right side were definitely now broken and collapsing her chest.

“Chloe!” She heard Nadine’s distant voice followed by the sound of crunching footsteps. Her partner’s panicked face came into view and pulled her in close. “Jesus Christ Frazer what the fuck were you thinking?!”

Chloe tried to smile, she was relieved to see that Nadine was alright. Well mostly, she had a bullet wound on her left leg, her body was all scratched up and she was bleeding from several cuts that were going to need stitches. But it seems Nadine was able to pick up a handgun and a knife from the corpse she used as a snowboard. “It’s called improvisation.”

“Fuck!” Nadine quickly ripped a sleeve from her shirt and patted Chloe’s forehead. Once that was compressed she went to work on getting off Chloe’s cuffs using a sharp bone she used to undo her own. “Shit your arm!”

“It feels worse than it looks. Is Doctor Ross in the house?”

Nadine looked back up the cliff, Chloe blasted a good hole making the terrain almost impossible to climb down. A few men were actually leaving the cliff side, a possible mutiny? But there a handful of soldiers beginning to repel down slowly. Surely they would be spotted out in the open like this. She frantically looked around for something. There had to be somewhere they could hide. And then she saw it, a mouth of a cave with the symbol of the Third Eye above it. That was it, the resting place of the orb. They found it. She scooped Chloe into her arms and limped over to cave. Walking over the massive hill of bones was treacherous, and she nearly fell several times trying to get over. Once they reached the mouth of the cave, Nadine panted and rested with Chloe in her arms. Chloe’s brow was still bleeding.

Nadine tried to collect herself, she counted down from ten and steadied her breathing. She cradled Chloe in her arms, her eyes were shut. “Frazer!”

Chloe blinked awake, “Hello Nadine.”

“Christ don’t scare me, never do that again! Promise me!” Nadine went to work administrating all the first aid she knew. She compressed the gash in her brow until it stopped bleeding. Next she went to work on setting Chloe’s arm back in. She sat her up and held her tightly in place.

“I’m sorry for this.”

“Just do it.” Nadine jerked Chloe’s arm upward as she snapped the ball back into its joint with a meaty pop. Chloe let out a scream and hunched over. “Shit…….shit.” She coughed and wheezed at the pain.

Nadine rubbed her back, “I should be able to carry us back to our campsite and call in for help. If we leave now, hopefully we won’t be stopped by any rebels.”

“No.” Chloe said hoarsely as she was still doubled over.

“No? Chloe this is out of our hands. We can’t continue on like this! We’ll die if we stay!”

Chloe choked some more, further worrying her partner. Nadine craned her head to see a small puddle of blood and spit on the ground below Chloe’s face. As Chloe raised her eyes to meet Nadine, Nadine uttered a murmured ‘no’. A trail of blood ran down Chloe’s lips.

“We can’t leave the orb here to be picked up by these guys.”

Nadine cautiously laid her hands on Chloe’s shoulders. She slowly lifted up her red shirt, removed the gauzes and looked at her right ribs. She let out a gasp of horror, they were carved in, obviously damaged. 3 ribs or more. The skin was bruised in blues and blacks. And judging by the blood that Chloe was coughing up, one of her broken ribs had probably scratched her lung tissue. Nadine couldn’t fight the ache of moisture creep into her eyes, “No…..no….we can’t stay.”

Chloe took a deep breath and tried to stand. She shifted her weight on to her good leg and raised her good hand on her broken side. Her right lung was taking on blood, but not at an alarming rate. It wasn’t punctured, but it was a wound that needed immediate hospitalization. Probably suffering from internal bleeding as well. But Chloe couldn’t afford to walk away now. She still had time to fix this. Nadine stood next to her, trying to hold her steady, to try to put some reason into her. Chloe reached into her back pocket with her bad arm and pulled out a brick of C4 and a detonator that she nicked from a rebel on her way down. “We find the orb, we take it, once all of men are inside the cave, we run for the exit and blow the hole.”

Nadine shook her head, a tear fell loose from her eyes, “No, that’s not my priority. My priority is you! I’m not letting you do this!”

“Nadine.”

“Throughout this whole mission, my highest priority was one thing and one thing only, and that was you.” A stream of tears crawled down her cheeks.

“Nadine, I can’t walk away from this, that orb could be highly dangerous in the hands of Asav’s men.”

Nadine took a few seconds of silence to weight their options, which were looking pretty grim at this point, “Fine. But I want your word, promise me that you won’t give up, that you’re not going to leave me.” Her lip quivered.

Chloe gave a weak smile and put on her best poker face, “I promise.” Liar.

Nadine nodded, obviously fooled by Chloe’s lie. She took off her belt and then wrapped it around her bullet wound to keep pressure on it. It was the best she could do to tend to all of their injuries. She threw Chloe on her back even though she protested that she could walk. Nadine marched on into the cave. Chloe wrapped her arms around Nadine’s shoulders and leaned her head against the back of hers. Her partner treaded carefully with barely a bounce in her step, she didn’t want to jostle Chloe too much with her sensitive condition. Further into the cave, Nadine noticed it was getting cooler as they went. It was a nice break from the afternoon sun. A mysterious green light was up ahead, florescent rocks littered the cave walls. Nadine believed she was on the right path. As she rounded a tiny slit in the cave wall, they came upon a massive manmade structure. It was carved into this large cave chamber, a huge stone temple. There were tiny homes built around it, it was like there a separate village living down here, below the Fortress. Nadine jogged up to the temple, surely the orb had to be there. As she ran up the dozens of steps she noticed something odd about this place. It was well kept, there was barely any cob webs or foliage decorating the temple. It almost looked brand new, with sharply cut stairs, perfect un-weathered craftsmanship, and a faint smell of jasmine in the air. Upon entering the temple’s main room, a smile formed on Nadine’s lips. A giant statue of Shiva was the main focal point of the room. And installed on Shiva’s forehead was a massive red orb. This bright red orb was located right where his Third Eye would be. This was it, the Third Eye.

“Chloe, we made it! It’s here!” Nadine nudged her.

“Yes good job ladies.” Came the hissing voice of that red beret bastard. He slowly entered the temple with a few men behind him, all with their barrels aimed right at them.

“H-how?” Nadine couldn’t have been that slow, how did they catch up so fast?

5 men flooded into the temple and circled them, “Once I realized that you stole the key, I had no choice but to quickly follow after you.”

“What?”

Chloe chuckled from Nadine’s back, her breath growing wheezy. She reached into her bag and pulled out the key, “I’m just too good at my job.” Nadine looked at the key and then back to the men, when did she nick that?

“You forced me to play a dangerous hand. And cost me some of my man. Your suicidal tendencies have forced most of my men to flee. You two are sirens calling us to death, they say. But it seems I will have no need for you anymore, you brought me to the Eye.” The red beret guy raised a hand. All of the men clicked the safety off their guns and lined up their sights. Nadine turned her body towards most of the barrels, hoping to at least block some shots from hitting Chloe.

“There’s one final test. And you’re gonna need a smartass like me to solve it.” Chloe boasted.

He hesitated. It had to be a bluff, one final stand. Chloe wormed her way off of Nadine’s back and leaned against her. She raised the key in the air, “If you think you can get it, by all means.” She threw the key down at his feet. 

His eyes narrowed on her, “Hold your fire.” He picked up the key and handed it to his second in command, “Retrieve the orb for me.”

“Y-yes sir.” The man rushed up to the great Shiva statue. The orb was firmly lodged into the brow that towered 15 feet high. At Shiva’s feet was a pedestal for the key. The rebel cautiously placed the key in the slot and gave it a turn. Cogs and mechanism spun to life. Much like in the water temple, a statue of Kama descended from the ceiling, with a bow drawn and a sharp arrow. Only this time, the arrow was aimed at Shiva’s forehead. The arrow launched from the bow, the arrowhead jutting out into 3 prongs. It slowly extended out to capture the orb. As the orb was being removed from Shiva’s forehead, Shiva’s natural 2 eyes lit up with fire. Kama slowly landed on to the temple floor and then it was set ablaze. The statue was covered in a burnable oil, Kama turned black as it licked with flames. The orb however, was gingerly placed down on a pedestal that arose from the ground, very similar to the water temple. With Shiva and Kama staring down at the orb, it was set up to look like a fire ritual. The one final test. The man hesitated.

“Grab it!” Barked his superior. The man shook his fear away and went for it. He rested his hands around the magnificent orb, his eyes went wide. He shot his hands back to see that they were on fire, it spread up his arms. Within the blink of an eye his entire body was encased in fire. He screamed in horror. The men all backed away, as the man took one more final scream, everyone could see that his eyes were gone and were replaced with fire. Inside his mouth was also fire. He was not only burning externally, but internally as well. His body crumbled into ashes, he dropped to the floor as a pile of fiery coals.

The remaining 4 men had taken several steps back from the red beret commander, fearing that they would be called upon next to retrieve the orb. The red beret stepped forward to the girls. Nadine had narrowed eyes, confused by all of this. But Chloe, she had an all knowing smirk on her face.

“What sort of trick is this?!” He yelled.

“He got what he deserved. He went before Shiva, and Shiva judged him. He could either grant him access to the Third Eye, or perish.” Chloe said in all too knowing matter as she wiped a trail of blood from her mouth.

“How can that be? How did the First King use it?” His face was priceless.

“Shivaji was a holy man, regarded as one of the Saviors of Hindu. He was judged by Shiva and was able to wield the orb. But it seems Shivaji feared that his son would never be able to touch the orb, or he would end up like your friend there. So he hid the orb away from his son in a place he knew he would never go.”

His face was contorted in anger. He stepped forward and grabbed hold of Chloe’s bad arm, twisting it tight. Nadine protested, but was met with opposition. The 4 men kicked the ex-mercenary’s legs down and forced her on her knees. The commander dragged Chloe up to the pedestal containing the orb.

“You will remove it then, you will be judged by Shiva. If you think you’re so high and worthy, then do it!” He pulled out his gun and pulled back the hammer.

Chloe took a second to weigh her options. She was dealing with broken ribs, a sprained ankle, and perhaps a broken left arm. Well there are worst odds. She quickly glanced over at Nadine. She had 4 guys surrounding her on her knees. But the air felt different, it was clear that men were spooked. Using Chloe’s keen instinct, she knew Nadine had the upper hand in her fight, she did have gun now this time. Chloe could see her right hand slowly reaching for it.

Chloe raised her hands in as a signal of surrender. “You can handle those 4 gents right love?”

With a reaction so fast, Nadine whipped out her stolen handgun and popped one of the soldiers in the head. One down. The other 3 remaining swung their barrels around towards Nadine but the hulky woman kicked one away while bodyslamming into one guy into the other. Shots echoed throughout the temple. And Chloe was left with the commander. In the moment of distraction caused by Nadine’s fight, Chloe smacked the handgun out of his hands and landed a solid punch across his cheek. The gun fell away and the man’s face was as red as his beret. He cried out as he charged at Chloe with typical aggressive charges. Very obvious and wide. Chloe went on the defensive and dodged each one, but just barely. Her injuries slowed her down. All she had to do was fend him off and hopefully Nadine could come charging in to assist. She hoped.

All Chloe could do was throw a couple of jabs at him with her right hand or shove him back with her entire weight. But her movements were growing slower and her vision was beginning to blur a bit. Her adrenaline was running out and pain was reminding her of how banged up her body was. She casted her eyes quickly to Nadine.

She was pinned down on the ground. Panicked set in and Chloe threw a punch too wide and obvious at the commander. Getting fed up Chloe’s play, he took hold her arm and spun it behind her back and pulled up. Chloe let out a cry of frustration as he captured his arms around her. His filthy hands pinched her chin as she was forced to look at the scene. Nadine was fighting back as best she could. One soldier had her in a pin as the other two were punching her. She squirming and struggling. Kicking where she could. She did a lot of damaged to her assailants but it wasn’t enough. Chloe overestimated herself and Nadine. Perhaps they were too banged up. They had exerted too much energy already after the water temple.

Chloe had to end this, if she could defeat the commander, the other 3 would have no choice but surrender. Maybe. Or would they keep pursuing? Chloe struggled against his strength. She tried elbowing him in the stomach with her bad arm and turning away. But he was too strong and she was too weak. Her opposition was only met with another strike and he went right for the kill spot. He punched her right in her broken ribs. Chloe let out a scream and a mouthful of blood that soon followed. What was once a necessary trip to the hospital was now a critical need. One of her broken ribs definitely punctured her lung and it was filling up with blood.

“NOO!” She heard Nadine scream.

Chloe went weak in the commander’s arm. He man-handled her to the orb with almost no opposition on her part. “Grab the orb and bring it to me you smug piece of shit!” He ordered as he flung her towards the pedestal.

No it can’t end like this, if she were to die she was taking this asshole down with her. Chloe whipped around and grabbed hold of the commander’s throat with what little energy she had left. Carrying her momentum forward, she reached out with her injured hand and touched the orb. As soon as her palm made contact with the orb, a fire surged up her injured arm, in through her chest and out her other palm. Her vision went white, and then black. Her head spun as the ground came to meet her. Her once tired weak body felt light. There was no pain anymore. She couldn’t feel her broken ribs, her blood filled lung, her fractured arm, sprained ankle or bruised body. She felt light. Like nothing.

She blinked her eyes in the darkness. A light was slowly approaching her. Was this death? As the light incased her she realized it was a familiar one. It was the greenish light from the cave’s fluorescent rocks. But this was not the place was in before. She was in front of Shiva’s face, 15 feet in the air. She blinked and looked down. Her head in a daze as she could see bodies below her. Fires rang out in the chamber. 3 flickered around Nadine who was looking around stunned yet unharmed by the flames. Chloe blinked again to see another fire just by the pedestal. Right next to her limp body.

Before Chloe could even process the image, light encased her again. This time leading her to a place she had never been. Her vision filled with the night sky, it was sprinkled with zillions of stars and forms of milky gastric waves of light. A dance of greens and pinks in front of them all. It was the Northern Lights. Chloe blinked as she felt a ghostly hand grab hers and interlocked her fingers. A bright smile, brighter than the Northern Lights beamed at her, it was Nadine. Chloe blinked again and was rushed over with intense sunlight. Sand curled around her ghostly toes as a wave crashed at them. A pair of hands once again pulled at her hands, but they were tiny hands. A child with golden hair pulled her along a far stretch of beach. This child was a little girl and she was pointing to a group of people in the distance. It was Nathan, Elena, Sully and Sam. A body grabbed for the little girl and lifted her on their shoulders. Chloe once again was captured by that same bright smile. Nadine staring happily at her as the child on her shoulders cheered with glee. Chloe blinked again and was met with darkness once again. What were those? Dreams? Fantasies? Another life?

Before Chloe could hold on to her thoughts, her body felt a great pull. Faint dark figures whizzed past her, haunting images shaped like people. Some people with multiple arms, some had swords, canes and snakes, one had an elephant trunk. Chloe’s eyes widened as her body met a hard surface.

She arched her back as the familiar feeling of pain enveloped her and the urge to vomit. She turned on her side and spat out a mouthful of blood. A pair of hands was there to assist her on side. Chloe blinked, fearing that this another weird vision. She saw a pair of tearing eyes. That smile wasn’t there. Chloe scrunched her brow and then cough up some more. Her mouth felt dry, her tongue saturated with the mineral taste of blood. Strong arms cradled her, rocking her as if she was being put to sleep.

“Why the long face Ross?” Chloe couldn’t recognize her own voice. It was raspy and groggy. It sounded like one of a dying person.

Nadine’s eyes were red, her cheeks had rivers of tears streaming down her face. “You promised……you promised you weren’t going to leave me.” Her voice was trembling.

“Oh I may have blacked out for a minute or two. Sorry for worrying you, luv.”

Nadine tried to smile, she cupped Chloe’s face. Her cheeks twitched, she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t smile.

Chloe blinked, thinking of that vision of Nadine’s white smile. Where did she go, Chloe wondered. What were those vision she saw? Was even this moment even real? Or was it like the others? Chloe blinked again, her eyes feeling heavier with each time she batted her eyes. Nadine tapped her cheek gently.

“Frazer no, don’t go to sleep again.” She begged, “Don’t leave me again.”

Chloe’s vision was starting to close in on the darkness. She looked up at Nadine’s face and noticed some dark figures standing behind her. She tried to call out to Nadine but her lips wouldn’t move.

She blinked and she didn’t wake up.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry for the cliffhanger, im terrible. please leave a comment below of how terrible I am. Final chapter incoming!


	5. The Fucking End

Chloe felt like she was floating through darkness once again. Unlike before, once she had touched the Eye, it felt different in a way, more grounded. Like there was something still holding her even as she floated. A warm embrace keeping her suspended in mid air. This dark void was much different. This darkness felt lonely. Before there were images of Nadine casting her smile at her, and images of ghostly figures watching over her. But here, this darkness had nothing. Was this death? Was this how it would be? Forever?

Chloe felt a pain in her chest, she was overcome with sadness. She wanted to sob. She left Nadine behind. She would never see her smile again. Her chest burst at the thought. Air quickly expanded into her lungs and she shot straight up. She panted heavily, it felt like she had been holding her breath for hours. Her eyes blinked away the dark lonely void and she was met with a green glow.

She was lying in a pool of water that was only a few inches deep. The green florescent rocks illuminated the whole pool. Chloe spun her head around, she was wearing a long white robe made a thin fabric, it clung to her wet skin as did her hair. Her ponytail was undone and snaking around her shoulders dipping with clear water. She turned to a strange old man who was sitting by the pool with her. His hand was up in a calming matter.

This old man had leathering old flesh and zillions of wrinkles. He was pasty for an Indian man, his hair and beard were incredibly long. This man wasn’t just old, he was ancient. He opened his mouth to speak and Chloe was surprised to hear ancient Hindu. She could understand most of it.

“ _Calm, you are among the living and the kind_.” He spoke.

Chloe looked down at herself, was she alive? She clearly remembered being close to death. She did a body check, everything was remarkably fine. Her sprained ankle was gone, her arm was healed, and her ribs felt fine. She took a deep breath and was surprised she wasn’t choking up blood. She could actually take a deep breath. “ _How is this possible_?” She asked in Hindi.

“ _This pool is blessed by Shakti. Capable of healing all things. Pain. Hunger. And death_.”

Chloe was even more confused. ‘So some magic water cured me……rriiiight.’ She thought.

“ _You entered the hidden Temple of the Third Eye. My people waited and watched. Shiva judged you. We helped and brought you here_.”

“ _And who are you? How was I not killed by the orb? There’s no way Shiva thought that I was worthy…of…………_.” Oh fuck it must be true. The orb didn’t kill her. And if the legend of it was true, those with no desires can wield the orb. There’s no way that was possible, Chloe Frazer being worthy of Shiva?

“ _Shiva saw that you sacrificed yourself for your friend. You had no selfish desire in that moment. Only the desire of self-sacrifice. The Eye granted you the power to incinerate your enemies. You have become like me and my people, a Seer_.”

A holy person?! No no no no. There was no way Chloe could be that. First a Hero for saving a city from a bomb and now a Seer for wielding a powerful artifact. “ _And that strange vision_?”

“ _The worthy who open their Third Eye have out of body experiences. They reach an astral plane form. Seeking a higher state of consciousness. Often premonitions_.”

Premonitions. So those visions she had of Nadine in the Northern Lights and on a beach with a child were all events that were going to happen.

Just then Chloe heard the sound of fast approaching footfalls. Before she could turn to see who it was, a familiar mound of flesh collided into her with a tight hug. Nadine’s fingers grasped at her wet hair. Chloe breathed in her scent and was immediately calm. She was wearing a white gown as well. Her scratches from before were all gone and her bullet wound completely healed .

“You’re okay.” Nadine pulled away staring at her with that wonderful smile, “Your injuries? Are they all healed?”

“I guess so. OWWwwww!”

Nadine rounded up and punched Chloe harshly in the arm, “You scared the hell out of me! You nearly died! How dare you take a risk like that again?! If it weren’t for these folks living in this temple you’d be dead!”

Chloe rubbed her wounded pride and gave in. She had to admit, what she did was really stupid. She put Nadine through so much pain because of her gun-ho suicidal tendencies. Normally when she made a mistake this big, the guilt was never this painful. Chloe felt a thick creeping lump in her throat and spreading in her chest.

The girls turned around to find that they had company. The pool chamber was now filled with several people dressed in white. Much like the old man, they were all ancient looking. Men and women. Chloe and Nadine stood from the pool.

Nadine spoke close to her ear. “I haven’t been able to understand them at all. When they started taking you, I nearly killed em. But then I guess I passed out from blood loss. And woke up in one of these pools same as you. They’ve been tending to you for over 24 hours.”

One of the ancient men stepped forth, “ _We thank you for protecting the Eye. We have been guarding it for centuries, awaiting the return of the King’s Key. We feared one day someone would seek it again_.”

“ _Centuries? You people……….”_ Chloe looked at Nadine dumbfounded and returned to English, “These people were the First King’s holy men. His Seers, protectors of the Eye.”

“But that would have to mean they are almost 350 years old?”

The Seers gestured for them to follow, they walked with such light feet. They almost glided across the stone flooring. “ _The King wished to take back India from the overruling Muslim Empire. He feared Islam would shadow over Hindu. He tried to create peace with the Mughal Empire. But when they did not return with peace, Shivaji was forced to use the Eye. Not out of malice or a desire to rule. Just to protect his people and to protect our culture. He did not wish to conquer India, he wished to save Hindu. But his eldest son saw it the other way around. A tragic event occurred, the son would never see peace. He was filled with anger and revenge. He demanded the Eye when the King became ill. He wanted war. Fearing that Shiva would judge him harshly, he gave the Eye to us to hide away from his son. He said that we were to wait until his son was wise enough to descend down the cliff and seek the Eye himself. After decades, Shiva gifted us with our fate of protecting the Eye from those who desire it. Only those who wish to open their Third Eye can be granted the power of the Shiva’s Eye_.”

Chloe smiled to herself, she knew she was on the right track. Her prediction was correct, however the twist about the orb granting fire power to those who were worthy was a new one. She giggled to herself. This was some other worldly bullshit she would go through whenever Nathan was around. And now it has followed her.

Nadine looked at her confused, she couldn’t understand a word. She elbowed Chloe, “So all bets are off about escaping with the orb and trading it in for cash?” She joked.

“Afraid not darling.” Chloe smiled. The Seers returned them back to the main temple chamber, where everything went down. Shiva’s Third Eye was placed back in his forehead and Kama was gone. All the ashes of the rebels were cleared away. However there was one Seer who was clearing a brownish red stain on the floor near Shiva. That was the puddle of blood Chloe left behind. The Seers presented them with their torn up clothes and gear. Chloe bowed her head and returned to Hindu, “ _Thank you for healing my friend and I_.”

“ _We owe you much gratitude for protecting the orb and our people. We have not much to offer except the King’s earthly possessions_.” One of the women bowed.

“ _Earthly possessions_?”

“ _Upon his death bed, he also wished for his son to never inherit his earthly possessions and the Eye. He gave us all of his personal wealth and riches_.” She gestured to a hidden door in the temple. There was a groove in the wall for the Third Eye Key. As soon as the door slid open, Chloe and Nadine’s jaws dropped. A room as big as a New York City apartment was filled to the brim with gold. Gold coins, solid gold statues of Shiva, Ganesha and other Gods. Jewelry, golden bars, robes, armor and even golden arrows.

Chloe looked back at Nadine and then back to the room. These Seers were about to give them the biggest treasure they have ever found together because they believed Nadine and Chloe saved them thieves unworthy of the orb. In truth they were intending on stealing the orb and cashing it in, but this works too. Putting on her best “holy act”, Chloe cleared her throat. “ _I believe the people of the modern world would be very pleased to have these possessions archived. We would be honored to return this piece of history to its place in Indian culture. I have some friends of the Ministry of Culture who would be more than pleased to see these pieces_.”

Within the span of a few hours, Nadine and Chloe were riding through the jungle in their jeep loaded up with as many “earthly possessions” as the car could hold. Back to the Ministry of Culture with another great Indian find under their belt. They left the staff gawking as they loaded them up with some fat stacks of cash. It was hilarious as they try to explain why they couldn’t find the Third Eye but came back with the King’s earthly horde. Chloe and Nadine figured it would be wiser to leave out the part about the secret Seers protecting a highly powerful orb that spits fire. They lied and said it was long gone, a secret taken to the King’s grave.

The amount that they scored, plus the fee from the Tusk was a good start to their partnership. Two ancient treasures under their belt, not bad of a start for their LLC. Chloe leaned back in her chair sipping on her cocktail. Her entire body was in a full state of satisfaction. On their quiet ride back to the Ministry with their bounty, Chloe insisted that they needed a treat. A weekend where they could do whatever they wanted; drink, gamble, fuck, whatever. So here they were in Mumbai, on the coast, with an extravagant hotel, wearing fancy kurtas, sipping cocktails at a street bar.

“Be careful now, that one contains whiskey.” Nadine came up behind her with a fresh drink in hand, sitting across from her at their table. They picked a cute bar just off the main drag of the coast. A local festival had ignited the street life. Nadine and Chloe made it their mission to get lost in it.

Chloe chuckled, “Ha, I won’t get as fucked as before. I promise.”

Nadine eyed with ‘oh really’ written all over her face, “I don’t think I can trust a Frazer promise anymore.”

“What does that mean? I’ve been a good girl.” Chloe teased.

But Nadine didn’t look in the mood to be teased. Or joke. She had a very puzzled look about her since they left the Seers. “You know what I mean.” She muttered under her breath

Chloe threw her hands up in defeat and took a long drag on her drink. A long silence befell them. So much has happened in the span of only a few days. Just last week Nadine was crawling at Chloe’s throat as they ran through a war zone. That felt like years ago. Chloe found herself smiling, she had grown so close to this woman. She let her in far deeper than any other person, even deeper than Nathan. She gazed over at her new partner and found that she wasn’t matching her expression. Nadine stared at the horizon of the street life, her brown eyes glazed over in a serious train of thought. It was then that it all hit Chloe. Nadine had given up everything. For her. For a new direction in her life. And Chloe was suppose to be guiding her. If Chloe were to risk her life or sacrifice herself, then Nadine would be helplessly lost. It was no longer Chloe’s own life she was dealing with, she was entrusted with Nadine’s life now. A woman that felt more than just a partner.

“Frazer.” Nadine’s stern voice tensed up her shoulders. She would only use that voice if she was pissed or very serious. “What are we?”

Old Chloe was coming back out, “A couple of treasure hunters getting drunk in Mumbai?”

“Real talk. Back in that water temple. I think now is the time and place to do some ‘damage control’. I’m gonna lay out my hand. I can’t do this anymore Chloe.”

Chloe’s chest sank like she was sucker punched in the ribs again. “What?”

“I love the treasure hunting. I love the views we get to see, the culture, and the energy of it. I don’t mind if we have to play rough with others who are seeking the same prize.” Nadine’s fingers clenched her sweating glass and she furrowed her brow. She stared deep into her drink, afraid to say the next sentence, “But you scared me back there. Many times. You take stupid risks. Crazy life threatening risks. I’ve lost count of how many times I thought you were dead. And the first thought I always have during the many times I presume you are dead is ‘How can I move on from here? Where do I go?’ And that last one………….” She squeezed her throat, choked with heavy emotion. “I thought that really was it. That would be the last time. Under normal circumstances, if I had a soldier dying in my arms I would be moving. Rushing them to aid no matter how many miles it would take or how injured I was. But in that moment, sitting in a puddle of your blood, staring up at me with those eyes….I………..I couldn’t move. I was helpless. And I can’t……….I-I can’t go through that again. I can’t be with you if you keep doing this.”

Chloe froze in her chair. The weight of Nadine’s words were crushing. An even longer painful silence befell them. Nadine’s leg began to bounce nervously. She was two seconds away from fleeing.

Chloe took a deep breath. She sucked at the people thing. She didn’t hate it, she was just never good at it. She never had the best way of finding words for how she felt. And if the feeling was too complicated she would ignore it. Eventually it would go away. But running away wasn’t what she wanted. That was the old Chloe, New Chloe was tired of walking away. Nadine was a rare and special company, one that she wanted to keep close to her for a lifetime.

“As soon as I touched the orb, there was nothing.” Chloe hated how her voice sounded, it was weak and vulnerable. “I suddenly couldn’t feel anything. No pain. Or sadness. But there was one feeling and that was loneliness. In that moment I thought I was dead and leaving you behind. I guess the orb pushed me into an out of body experience because when my ‘astral body’ came to, I was standing over my real body and seeing how lonely I was. And then I looked at you. This woman who has barely known me for a month was crying over me. A thief who usually enjoys no ties.”

Nadine was listening to her intently. Chloe hated how this felt, to be so vulnerable and being judged by such warm brown eyes. Chloe continued, she had to make Nadine understand. She wanted to fight to keep her, “Then the orb showed me some premonitions. And they were events of us. I saw you with me as we saw the Northern Lights. And then I saw you and me on a beach with Nathan and Elena’s future daughter. And in both of those situations, you were smiling that amazing white smile of yours. But as soon as those premonitions ended, there was darkness again. It was lonely. And this is something I didn’t realize until now, but in that moment all I was feeling was regret. There are so many cases where I’ve thrown myself into danger knowing that luck will be on my side. But on the off side if I were to die, I knew I would die the way I wanted to do. I knew my life was something that no one cared for.” Chloe didn’t notice until now, but there was water dropping down into her hands. Was she crying? No Chloe Frazer doesn’t cry like this. She wiped away her tears feeling embarrassed, “I’ve never had someone who was so passionate about saving my ass as you are. And in that moment of regret, I knew that I couldn’t die. Because there was someone in my life that truly needed me. In that moment, I wanted to see your smile again. And then I came back into my body and I saw how my carelessness over my life affected you. And I felt like the worst selfish dickhead in the world.”

Nadine giggled at that. She sniffled in between her iconic laughter. She was holding back tears as well but much like Chloe she was failing at that. The two laughed at each other as they whipped away their tears and cleared their sinuses. And then there was silence again, but this time it wasn’t painful. It was like the silence of a clear sky after a hurricane.

As twilight drew, the street life rang with Indian pop music. Many patrons of the bar started filing out, beers in hand to join in on the mass that had gathered. Families, couples and drunk singles filled the streets and began an infection dance. Any words that the two had left to say would be drowned out by the music. Chloe casted a foxy stare at her partner, her eyes half batted and biting her lower lip. Nadine flashed her pearly whites and raised her eyebrows. The two quickly downed the remainder of their drinks and followed each other outside.

Nadine grabbed hold of Chloe’s hand as she pulled her deep into the crowd. A devilish grin on her face as if she wanted them to get lost in this mess. The booze were certainly fueling that ambition. Once Nadine found a safe enough spot for them, she pulled Chloe in close. Chloe was loving how natural it felt to fall in sync with Nadine, her hands clasped the back of her neck and her chest fell perfectly into hers. Nadine’s hands found their home on Chloe’s hips. Their foreheads almost touching. The bass was thumping in their chests, exciting their hearts even further.

“You sure you can dance to this?” Chloe mused as she slowly started circling her hips.

“Only if you stay close.” Nadine hugged those hips right up against hers with her left thigh out just a tad. This forced Chloe’s legs to separate as her crotch made contact with Nadine’s flexed thigh. Chloe purred. The song changed to a new one, with a harsh bass and a fast rhythm. If Nadine wanted to dance dirty, she would do the same.

“You got my back?” Chloe spun around, giving Nadine a look over her shoulder. She hugged her back tight up against Nadine’s front.

“I’ve got your ass.” Nadine whispered into Chloe’s ear. The two intertwined themselves into the beat. The bass rocking their core and fueling their hips. Nadine’s hands were all over her. Grabbing her sides, the bones of her hips, her supple ass, around her thighs and up. Chloe’s hips were steering, grinding her ass against Nadine’s crotch. She planned for there to be no room between them. She wanted Nadine to worship her, she wanted to drive this woman against a wall, pin her there and have her way with her.

But Nadine was a tricky girl, a strong woman like her wouldn’t bend to just an ass shaking. Chloe may be in charge of how their hips moved together, but Nadine was in charge of hands. She pulled Chloe’s hands up and behind her head, resting gingerly on the back of Nadine’s. With nimble fingers, Nadine didn’t plan to play fair if Chloe wasn’t. Her skilled hands worked up Chloe’s front and she was playing her like a keyboard. Nadine was bold with her caresses in such a public space. Grabbing, pinching, sliding and rubbing every tender spot. Chloe was like a match and Nadine was giving her enough friction to make her want to spark. The two were going back and forth, one dominating the other. As soon as one felt like they were going to snap, the other one posed their own defiance. They were reeving each other to the point where heat was becoming an unbearable problem. As the playlist went on from one fast beat to another, the two were getting dangerously close.

Nadine’s lips slid against Chloe’s soft ear, “You’re lucky we’re in a public space. Else I would repeat what happened in that water temple.”

Chloe turned her head and pulled Nadine in close, “You started that because someone couldn’t keep it in their pants.”

“You fell for those flowers too.”

“Only because you don’t last very long. A little bit of heat stirs you up, making you easy game.”

“Fuck it.” Nadine caved, she couldn’t take this any longer. This damn woman was pulling on her last nerve. She was gonna make a scene, she hoisted Chloe into the air and carried her over her shoulder. Chloe laughed and protested, she squirmed as Nadine parted through the crowd of dancing locals.

Nadine made a bee line for their hotel. As the crowd grew less dense, she could hear Chloe snickering from over her shoulder.

“Does this mean I’m right?”

“Shut up.”

“Or are you just making it a habit of carrying me back to our honeymoon suite?”

That comment warranted a spanking across Chloe’s perfect ass. Chloe welped a fiery mix of pain and pleasure. “You know your ass looks really great from back here.” Nadine spanked her ass again. Chloe yelled even louder. “You’re my official Ass Saver, not Ass Handler.” SPANK. That third one drove Chloe crazy. Her fingers curled and her panties were probably soaked thoroughly through at this point.

Nadine wordlessly carried her in through the hotel lobby where they got a lot of looks. Chloe wondered what they looked like to the public eye. Did they look like two drunk friends and one had to be carried home? Or did they look like a couple about to fuck each other’s brains out? Nadine slammed the elevator door button. When it looked like they would be the only two riding the elevator, Nadine slammed Chloe up against the elevator’s glass wall. That’s when Chloe could see just how much she had fucked with her partner. Nadine’s face was intense. Her eyes fully dilated and trained in on every detail of Chloe’s face. It was a similar look to the one she got from Nadine at the water temple. Her teeth biting her lower lip and pursing them, hungry for kissing. As soon as the elevator doors closed, Chloe had nowhere left to hide. Nadine attacked her viciously. She pressed her body so hard against Chloe’s that the glass behind them was under strain.

“I’m not gonna play your game, we’re gonna play my game.” Nadine whispered. She wretched Chloe’s wrists and slammed them over her head against the glass.

“You’re gonna hold me in a pin until I beg is that it?” Chloe cooed at her in an almost mocking way.

“Your game is all talk. Mine’s a bit more hands on.” Nadine squeezed Chloe’s wrists with her one meaty hand. Her other hand tickled at Chloe’s side, gripping her hip bone. The elevator pinged its way up the various floors of their massive hotel. They had a long way to go since they purchased a room on the top floor.

“But you’ve had your hands on me all….” Nadine covered Chloe’s lips with her own. It was strange to Chloe that she was moaning in their kiss already. Her body was betraying her. Nadine’s kisses were just too good, they were fierce and fiery. Almost as if her lips were pulling out those moans from her throat. Her hulking form pressed warmly against her, Nadine’s thigh was placed in just the right way. Her hamstring was like smooth stone grazing up against her crotch. Even though they were far from the street music, Chloe’s hips were still in rhythm. She rocked her hips against Nadine’s impressive thighs which electrified her clit. It was becoming like an unbearable itch. But then Nadine stopped. She pulled away her thigh, her tongue and her lips. Chloe whined out an exhale. She bit her lip, embarrassed that she let her desperation show. Nadine turned her on with just a few moves. Chloe squirmed under her firm stance and those firm lust filled eyes.

Chloe licked her lips, “Is this pay back for the company name thing?” Nadine’s strong fingers covered her mouth gently. She shushed her with pursed lips.

“If you want to play my game then stop talking. I promise I’ll give you a reward.” She raised one eyebrow.

Chloe so badly wanted to be in control again. She wanted to steer how this night would go. Her game thrived on manipulation to get what she wanted. Whether using bold body language or cocky flirty phrases, she controlled the mood of the night. But now Nadine was asking for the steering wheel. Again. She proved successful the first time, back during their quick romp in the forest outside of Raigad. Fine, she’d let Nadine have her turn.  

“Alright then China. But don’t we need a safeword? I like using the word Tomato.” Chloe nipped at Nadine’s fingers, she kissed her digits. Figuring this would be her last stand, Chloe popped Nadine’s pointer in her mouth. She rolled her tongue around her finger, sucking, nibbling and kissing until the elevator came to a stop. She could see Nadine’s controlling slipping a bit. As soon as the elevator doors opened, Nadine hoisted Chloe back over her shoulder. She was back in control.

“You have such a barbaric way of carrying women into bed with you.”

“Frazer.” Nadine warned.

“Fine I’ll stop.” No back seat driving, she had to trust Nadine’s sexy driving.

Nadine literally kicked their hotel door in with such force it dented the wall as the door swung in. It was only then that Chloe wondered what Nadine’s game was. She got a glimpse of it during their romp at Raigad and a drunken flower fueled session back in the water temple. Nadine was a ‘hands on kind of person’, but what did that mean? Chloe has seen numerous types, Nadine was hard to pin down. It was a bit unsettling for Chloe to not know what kind of adventure they would be going on tonight but that was kind of the fun of it. So far she had made Chloe orgasm quicker and more frequently than anyone else in the short amount of time they had together.

Nadine marched them right into their hotel room. They picked the most luxurious room in the hotel. Complete with a large King sized bed, hot tub on the balcony, a kitchenette with a bar and a spa like bathroom. The two had planned to be here for a few days to enjoy every inch of it. But first, they were going to enjoy the fuck out of this bed. Nadine sat down on the bed with Chloe on her lap. Her dark hands cupped Chloe’s ass and curled up underneath her kurta.

‘ _She wants me on top, interesting_.’ Chloe thought as their lips reunited. She had to find some use for her lips otherwise she might start speaking her thoughts. Not out of defiance, but she simply liked speaking her mind. At some point Chloe’s kurta came off as her mind was racing, she was trying to figure out where Nadine was taking this. What direction or angle? What would be her reward? Her hands grabbed fistfuls of Nadine’s kurta, requesting it off as well. But Nadine didn’t compile. She instead took off Chloe’s bra with one hand and clasped both of her breasts. Her lips abandoned Chloe’s and started leaving a trail of bites down to her breasts. Her tongue circled one of her erect nipples, evoking a breathy moan from Chloe. But without a pair of lips to distract her, Chloe couldn’t help herself.

“That tongue would be better lower darling.”

Nadine stopped and looked up at her annoyed. Shit she spoke. And judging from that reaction, Nadine was not pleased. With one harsh shove, Chloe landed into the pillows of the bed.

“Pants off.” She ordered.

Chloe felt a little threatened, her eyes were staring down at her like a predator about to snap the neck of her prey. She did as requested, she slid out of her jeans. Leaving her with a lacy pair of black panties that she bought this morning. Both of them went out shopping earlier today, Chloe wanted to buy something that would surprise Nadine. She had almost forgotten about them.

Nadine stared down at her choice of undergarments, her presences looming over Chloe. For a brief moment, Nadine’s tough stature faltered, “I saw you staring at these today. You bought these for me didn’t you?”

“You told me not to talk.” Chloe started to slid into the crack of Nadine’s game breaking. “And yes I did. You should see them from behind.” Chloe turned on to her stomach and arched her back, presenting Nadine her mountainous ass. The foxy woman looked over her shoulder for Nadine’s reaction, this was what she was hoping for since she bought them. A faint blush rising in her face and the very subtle turn of the head as if she was shying away. That was the kind of face Chloe enjoyed the most. Most of the time, Nadine was all tough, even now when trying to control Chloe. But in this one moment, Chloe caught her. Nadine was blushing hard and trying to gain back the moment. Her hands trembling as she crawled closer to her on the bed. Nadine groaned and then gave Chloe’s right cheek a hard smack.

“Damnit Frazer.”

Chloe’s whole body tensed up in pain but then melted as the sting burned into her flesh, complete with a breathy moan. A gentle hand rubbed the red mark on her skin which made her melt even further into the sheets.

“You always try to steal the moment.” She could hear Nadine smiling as she spoke. Chloe curled her fingers into the pillows.

“I’m sorry, it’s a force of habit. Do I still get my reward?”

Nadine’s hands caressed Chloe’s curve. The fucking lace was doing her in. Her fingers curled under Chloe’s hips and she forced her partner over on to her back. Chloe was shocked to find that at some point Nadine had removed her kurta and jeans. Her choice of undergarments were not nearly as sexy as Chloe’s, but Nadine’s sports bra and simple thong were shaping her form just perfectly. Her deep V leading to the tiny triangle of her crotch was extremely alluring. Chloe’s eyes trailed up from there to her abs, so cut you could grate cheese on them. Then her breasts so firmly packed in that bra it looked like they would explode out. Chloe had not seen her this naked before. She had some idea of what her Adonis would look like, but her imagination failed compared to the real picture. Chloe was ogling, a thing she rarely did. She watched as those muscles slid under her tight skin as they crawled closer to her. Nadine’s expression was that of a shit eating grin.

“I see that I finally got you to shut up. You might be deserving of your reward.”  Her lips captured Chloe’s once more. Chloe couldn’t stop a moan from escaping. Her hands reached up and cupped her broad shoulders and rubbed up to her winged shoulder blades. It was like she was chiseled from angels. Nadine’s gentle fingers touched her cheek and then slid down her neck and to her breast. Chloe was stunned by how soft Nadine’s touch could be, just moments ago those fingers spanked her ass viciously and throwing her up against walls. She was being carefully delicate, almost bordering on the edge of hovering her fingertips as they trailed down to her stomach. As soon as Nadine brushed the tip of her hips, Chloe shuddered. Her core was buzzing madly. Her senses were all fired up, they were harshly woken from Nadine’s barbaric handling. But the light touches and gentleness were boiling her up into a smoldering mess. By the time Nadine’s fingers touched her panties, they were soaked through. Chloe let out a high pitched squeal and was shocked by her own voice.

Chloe’s head was in a thick haze, this was all wrong. How? What did this woman do to her? Chloe felt pinned down without even needing the restraint. She felt like if she moved it would ruin the atmosphere. If she spoke, it would be an act of betrayal when just a few seconds ago she was perfectly fine talking out of turn. And here she was shuddering as Nadine’s fingers toyed with her wet panties and holding her down with nothing but a stare. It wasn’t until Chloe looked deeply into her brown eyes that she found the key. The key to Nadine’s game. This was it, when she said she was hands on. It led all to this feeling.

“I think you’re earned it now. Don’t move.” She whispered. Chloe whimpered as her touch escaped her. When did Chloe get so needy for her touch, that wasn’t usually like her. This was all part of Nadine’s masterful game. She would put up a fight, display her range of strength. She overtook Chloe in size, strength and stature, proving that she can be trusted to be in control. And once she gained control, she took a hard turn in the opposite direction. Instead of continuing the intense, physical display as Chloe was expecting, she overwhelmed her with tenderness. It was a powerful move that Chloe was not prepared for, her body was so turned on and overwhelmed. It became dominated and longing for just Nadine. Her lover disappeared out of sight and it was a grueling couple of seconds when she returned. Chloe’s eyes went wide when she feasted her eyes about her reward. Nadine was sporting a leather strap-on with a blue impressive looking dildo.

Chloe let out a laugh and bit her lip, “Have you had that this whole time?”

“No talking, no reward.” Nadine slowly walked up to the bed. Chloe was shocked that her body was so eager to compile. She wanted Nadine to touch her again so badly, she wanted her reward very badly.

Nadine mounted the bed and slid her hands up Chloe’s thighs, she let out a hiss in response. Nadine smiled wide, “You bought these for me.” She slipped her fingers under Chloe’s panties and pulled them off painfully slow. “I bought this for you.” She brought her hips in close to Chloe’s. The cool tip of the silicone dildo kissed Chloe’s drenched lips.

Chloe bit down on her finger as her body trembled. She wanted Nadine to plow her right then and there with that damn thing. But that wasn’t part of Nadine’s game. She could see it in her eyes that Nadine wasn’t going to play fair. Chloe had seen glimpses of this moment before, back in the water temple and especially during their first sexual romp. Chloe knew exactly what Nadine was going to do now, she was going to hang this in her face and just keep her on the edge until she would beg for the end. This was the final stage of Nadine’s game. The long game.

“F-Fuck.” Chloe muttered under her breath as she felt Nadine begin to tease her. She rubbed the tip against her lips, the heat transferring instantly to the silicone, adopting Chloe’s warmth. Nadine’s hands firmly gripped Chloe’s legs, her thumbs tickling that muscle of her inner thighs. This was just torture. Nadine Ross, the first person in the history of Chloe’s sex life, was reducing her to a puddle and she hadn’t even fucked her yet. Chloe covered her face with her arms and groaned in combination of frustration and annoyance. This was the most evilest game she had ever played, this agonizing build up only to be teased with the last sprint to the finish line. And Nadine’s smile was so mischievous, she knew everything that was going on in her mind. She played her like a damn fiddle. Chloe would be fuming if she wasn’t so impressed.

“Na-Nadine……” Chloe couldn’t recognize her own voice. It was higher pitched and dripping with desire.

“Ja.” She teased with a slight stroke, her hips popping that V muscle line.

Chloe shuddered out a heavy moan. “You are…..the cruelest……woman in the world……”

Nadine’s seriousness dropped for a moment as she giggled. She felt proud, “Can’t say you deserve it.”

“F-fucking damnit China…” Chloe’s hips were bucking, Nadine stopped teasing with her tip. Chloe’s body was growing more desperate, she couldn’t control her own damn hips.

“Ask nicely.”

Chloe bit her lip, “Just do it already.”

Nadine hummed as she slid her hand down her inner thigh, “Do what?”

‘ _FUCKING GODDAMNIT NADINE THIS IS TORTURE!! FUCK ME OR YOUR NAME WON’T GO INTO THE COMPANY NAME AT THIS POINT!!_ ’ Chloe screamed in her head, “P-please…..” She begged.

Nadine wasn’t satisfied, she slipped the tip past her lips, burying itself inside her. But just barely entering, the resulting cry from Chloe was extremely satisfying however. As she stroked out, Chloe let out a whimper with her name attached to it. Her eyes were casting an expression that Nadine adored. That was all she could probably get out of the Chloe for now, Nadine realized she riled up the poor woman too much. And Nadine herself was having a hard time restraining herself any further. She rocked her hips back for a wind up and then plunged the whole length of her fake shaft inside her lover. Like an avalanche, Nadine unleased it all. She maintained a solid strong rhythm, holding Chloe’s hips firmly in her hands. She was pretty sure Chloe climaxed within the first few strokes. Her body squirmed under her grip and her cries echoed in their hotel room. She hiked her chest up as she orgasmed, a squeal catching in her throat, fingers digging and pulling at the sheets. Nadine watched her carefully, loving every second of Chloe unwinding. She wanted to always remember this moment. As Chloe came crashing down from her high, Nadine slowed down her pace. She gave Chloe a few moments to catch her breath and then went back to her previous pace. Only this time with more power, she slammed her hips harshly against Chloe’s until it made an audible smacking sound. Chloe had no choice but to brace for impact as she rode into another approaching orgasm.

“M-More……More…” Chloe begged. Nadine supplied. She grabbed for a new fulcrum point, her hip bones. She pulled the rest of Chloe with her until she was resting on her lap. This new position had so many advantages. She could let gravity slam her down on her fake shaft and get a great workout for her arms. Chloe gripped on to Nadine tightly. Her nails left red marks all over her back. Their boobs sandwiched together.

“F-Fuck!” Chloe cried again as the next orgasm overtook her, this one being more intense than the last. Nadine only furthered it by thrusting faster. Chloe dug her nails in deep into her shoulder blades and cried into Nadine’s neck. Her heavy breath whistling down Nadine’s chest. Nadine came to a stop and held her tight as her body melted into her arms. Chloe came a second time, or maybe it was one continuous orgasm. “Fuck Nadine.” Chloe panted heavily, “You’re very cruel....and ruthless.”

Nadine rubbed her back as she giggled. Her laughter vibrated into Chloe’s chest. A thin layer of sweat had collect between them, and there was a fair amount of slickness collecting between their crotches. Definitely Chloe’s juices.

Chloe couldn’t move, her body was incased in a crippling warm afterglow. She was pretty sure she couldn’t feel her legs. “Well that settles it, you’re coming to live with me.”

“Ja?” Nadine placed Chloe back down in the sheets, resting on top of her. She wiggled to make sure her fake shaft was still inside Chloe. She could tell her lover was very attached to it now. She touched the tip of her nose with Chloe’s. The two women stared at each other with half shut eyes.

 “As long as you help pay for rent.”

Nadine laughed, “This is your idea of pillow talk?”

“What? I’m offering room and board for my new partner. I need you close by in case I might need this again.” Chloe traced a circle on Nadine’s collarbone. “And this…..is probably the most mind blowing sex I’ve ever had.”

“Is this your way of proposing a more personal relationship?”

Chloe pouted her lips, “Two women living together in London who sleep together and go on treasure hunts, I like how that sounds.”

“Me too.” Nadine cupped Chloe’s face and gently rubbed her cheek. “But I want my name in front of yours for the company name.”

Chloe burst out laughing, “Fat chance, we’re keeping the ASS name.”

“No.”

“Cmon!”

“No.” The two giggled as they held each other like this. They weren’t sure if they rested like this for a few moments or minutes, neither of them cared of the passage of time. In this moment, there was no existence of time. It was just Chloe and Nadine.

The moment of silence was interrupted by Chloe’s sudden giggling again, “Do you remember when I was rambling about the visions the orb showed me?”

“Ja, you mentioned eventually we would go see the Northern Lights.” Nadine’s voice had a hint of whimsy.

“I did, I also mentioned that we were on a beach with Nathan and Elena’s future daughter. And that got me wondering. How are we gonna break this to the Drakes?” Chloe laughed.

Nadine sighed, “You just totally crushed the moment. Here I thought you were gonna propose we go to Iceland next and you’re worried about the Drakes.”

“Shall I introduce you as my partner or my girlfriend?” Chloe couldn’t help but continue laughing.

Nadine, although annoyed that Chloe mentioned the Drakes in bed, was affected by Chloe’s laughter, “Oh so girlfriend is the new title for me eh?”

“Well I think it rolls off the tongue better, don’t you think?”

“Oh I’ll give you tongue.” Nadine rolled her hips as she came down for a wet kiss. Chloe laughed into the kiss, it seems this wasn’t going to be the end of the night. Nor would it be the end of this discussion. It was just the beginning of a new chapter, for both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ending this story perfectly in time for Chlodine week. Its my first fanfic of these two. Please leave a comment and i might write more. I do have a couple of other ideas in mind. Like elaborating more on those visions Chloe had.


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